LA Mayoral Candidate Spencer Pratt Accuses CBS News of Editing Interview into Hit Piece

Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt accused CBS News of portraying him negatively in an X post on Friday. He claimed the network handed editing of his interview to Mayor Karen Bass' PR team.

"After CBS embarrassed Karen Bass by fact-checking her debate lies about the Palisades Fire, they clearly got the call," Pratt wrote. "CBS filmed with me on my burned out lot for over an hour, and they turned it over to Karen Bass’ PR team to edit it into a comical 5 minute hit piece with clips from 'The Hills.'"

"They can’t beat my ideas, they can’t beat me in the debates, so they gotta try to turn my campaign into a sideshow," he added. Pratt said people are tired of such political tricks and that CBS would get no words from him for his next eight years as mayor. He asked what outlet should replace them.

Fox News Digital requested comment from Pratt, CBS News and Mayor Bass' team but received no response in time for publication. It was unclear which edited video Pratt referenced. A person familiar with the matter said the full video would post on Saturday and that no outside parties edited it.

In a segment on "CBS Mornings," correspondent Adam Yamaguchi stood on a charred hillside in Pacific Palisades, where Pratt's home stood before the Los Angeles wildfires. The video ran just over four minutes and included clips from the MTV series "The Hills."

Yamaguchi referred often to Pratt's role on the show and his mayoral run. "Why should voters believe that you, who don't have any experience in [the political] realm, can actually be the solution?" he asked.

Pratt replied, "I may not have the experience, but I have the common sense to say, 'This is not working.'"

The piece then showed one of Pratt's ads. In it, he stood outside a trailer on the site of his former home and called for leadership change after the 2025 wildfires.

Politico California Bureau Chief Melanie Mason appeared later. She said convincing a blue city like Los Angeles to back an independent like Pratt would be a hard road. Mason called him a novice politician aligned with Trump and Republicans.

Yamaguchi said the odds seemed stacked against Pratt. The candidate responded by citing his Democratic support and aims to fix the city's systemic problems.

A clip from CBS Los Angeles ran under three minutes with similar elements. Pratt spoke from the hillside in front of the trailer, again stressing leadership change. It included "The Hills" references and clips from the early 2000s series.