LA Mayor Bass Accuses Fire Survivor Spencer Pratt of Exploiting Palisades Blaze Grief

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is facing backlash for accusing mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt of exploiting the deadly Palisades fire, a disaster that destroyed his home and his family's property.

Bass told MeidasTouch she had never heard of Pratt before his anti-Bass ads about her handling of the Palisades fire gained online traction. "The thing I am concerned and feel about him is that I feel like he's exploiting the grief of people in the Palisades and I just think that's just reprehensible," Bass said. "That's the main thing and I think he is about his own celebrity — he's famous now again."

Pratt, a former reality television star who announced his mayoral run on the one-year anniversary of the Palisades fire that destroyed his home, pushed back. He said he won community awards for supporting the Palisades community during the tragedy. He also said he knew people who burned alive across the street from his childhood home.

Roxanne Hoge, chairwoman of the Los Angeles Republican Party, called Bass' remarks tone-deaf. "For a longtime politician, I am godsmacked by Karen Bass' absolute tone deafness in attacking a survivor of the Palisades fire in this way," Hoge told Fox News Digital.

Elizabeth Barcohana, a Los Angeles attorney and political strategist, said all of Los Angeles is grieving losses under Bass and City Councilmember Nithya Raman's four-year leadership. "To accuse Spencer Pratt — who lives in his burned out lot in a trailer — of 'exploiting grief' is a new low," Barcohana added. She credited Pratt with exposing Bass' lack of preparation, Governor Newsom's choice to save plants over people, missing FireAid money and misuse of homelessness funds.

Janiyah Thomas, a former Trump campaign adviser, said Bass' attack on Pratt's campaign as 'reprehensible' shows political malpractice. "Spencer Pratt lost his home. His parents lost their home. He watched his city burn while his mayor was on a plane to Ghana," Thomas told Fox News Digital. She noted Bass cut the fire department's budget and was absent as homes burned.

The interviewer on MeidasTouch agreed with Bass but said the fires remain top of mind for California voters. The questioner praised Bass' experience in public office during the disaster, which Pratt is targeting.

Bass defended her record, citing her leadership in the city's Palisades fire response and her time in Congress. She said Pratt needs a civics class to understand government. Bass blamed the fires on climate change, calling them the worst natural disaster in city history with hurricane-strength winds and no rain.

"These fires, it was the worst natural disaster that we experienced in our city — at the root of it, you know, we have to get adjusted to — just like everybody else in the nation — to different weather experiences that we're not used to because of climate change," Bass said. "We don't know hurricanes -- I'm born and raised in Los Angeles -- to have hurricane-strength winds and actually no rain is odd anywhere but especially Los Angeles."

Bass faced heavy criticism during the fire for her absence, including a trip to Ghana as winds swept the area, failure to deploy resources and $17.6 million in fire department cuts.

Bass' office referred questions to her campaign, which provided no response.

On Fox News' "The Will Cain Show," Pratt said, "I'm not sure if Karen Bass forgot she let my house burn down and my parents house burn down and I had actual neighbors burn alive across the street from my childhood home." He called Bass' criticism "the most insane, psycho, diabolical thing I've heard in a minute – but it's not shocking." He added, "The only grief is my grief, my community's grief that I initially started this fight on behalf of."

Meghan McCain posted on X, "How the hell is Spencer Pratt 'exploiting grief'? He, his wife, children and parents lost their homes and everything in it in a fire because of Karen Bass and her failed policies."

Corrin Rankin, California Republican Party chairwoman, said Bass wants sympathy for herself and silence from fire victims. "Californians are tired of Democratic politicians who lack accountability and attack critics," Rankin told Fox News Digital. "When people lose everything, they have every right to demand answers from the people in charge that failed them."