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The southbound 101 Freeway in Hollywood is jammed this morning after a musical group blocked lanes for a publicity stunt -- they were singing on the roof -- that ended in their arrest. Because the driver fled the scene with the keys to the truck, the California Highway Patrol was waiting for a tow-truck to arrive. Meanwhile, traffic was backed up to at least the 170 Freeway, according to a live report on KABC-TV.
"You know what, I'm not even going to say the name of this group, because it's just not right to do this sort of thing -- people trying to get to their jobs, get to where they need to go," said newscaster Phillip Palmer, "and they're impacted by some loser who does something like this, this is just ridiculous."
The "loser" band Imperial Stars was performing a song called "Traffic Jam 101," noted the LA Times.
Update, 11:58 a.m: The band's truck has been towed. Traffic is starting to get back to normal, according to KABC-TV.
Update, 12:05 p.m: It appears the stunt was to raise some kind of awareness about homelessness. "Clearly a message not recieved very well," said Randy Paige on KCAL-TV. He said it took him almost one hour to go three miles in the traffic.
