Karen Bass calls Spencer Pratt ‘reprehensible’ for ‘exploiting grief’ of Palisades fire victims

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass accused mayoral challenger Spencer Pratt of “exploiting the grief” of Palisades fire victims during a recent interview, drawing sharp backlash given that Mr. Pratt’s own home was destroyed in the disaster.

Speaking with former MSNBC anchor Katie Phang, Ms. Bass said she had never heard of the former reality television star before his entry into the race. “But the thing I am concerned about is that I feel like he’s exploiting the grief of people in the Palisades. And I think that’s reprehensible,” she said. “I think that he is about his own celebrity — he’s famous now again.”

Ms. Bass also suggested Mr. Pratt take a civics course. “He could benefit by a basic civics course, because I don’t think he understands the basics of how any government works,” she said, attributing the fires to climate change.

Mr. Pratt, known for the MTV reality series “The Hills,” lost his Pacific Palisades home, valued at approximately $3.8 million before the fire, along with his parents’ home in the blaze. The Palisades Fire burned more than 23,000 acres, destroyed nearly 6,800 structures and killed 12 people in the Pacific Palisades area, making it the most destructive wildfire in the history of the city of Los Angeles.

Mr. Pratt fired back during an appearance on Fox News’ “The Will Cain Show,” calling the mayor’s remarks “the most insane, psycho, diabolical thing I’ve heard in a minute.” He said Ms. Bass appeared to have forgotten that she “let my house burn down, and my parents’ house burn down,” adding that he had watched neighbors perish across the street from his childhood home. “The only grief is my grief, my community’s grief that I initially started this fight on behalf of,” he said.

Mr. Pratt announced his bid for mayor in January on the first anniversary of the fire, framing his campaign around the city’s disaster response and what he has described as failures by the Bass administration. His first campaign advertisement, in which he films himself outside the homes of Ms. Bass and City Council member Nithya Raman before cutting to a trailer on his burned-out lot, garnered more than 12 million views on X.

The campaign received a boost last week when Jeanie Buss, governor of the Los Angeles Lakers, donated $1,800 — the maximum amount permitted under local election law — to his campaign. Ms. Buss has not publicly endorsed a candidate. Mr. Pratt has raised nearly $540,000 since January, edging out Ms. Bass in new fundraising over that period, though she holds a larger overall war chest of approximately $2.3 million.

The June 2 primary features several candidates, including Ms. Raman. A UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times, conducted in mid-March among 840 likely voters, shows Ms. Bass leading with 25% support, followed by Ms. Raman at 17% and Mr. Pratt at 14%, with roughly a quarter of voters still undecided.