Reality TV star Spencer Pratt lost his Pacific Palisades home to wildfire in January 2025, and he has spent the past year putting Governor Gavin Newsom’s climate excuses on blast.
Story Snapshot
- Spencer Pratt, who lost his Palisades home in the January 2025 fire, accuses Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass of “criminal negligence.”
- Newsom cut $101 million from wildfire and forest resilience programs just months before the deadly fires hit.
- Newsom has repeatedly told reporters the fires are caused by climate change, calling doubters “in denial.”
- Cal Fire denied Newsom personally blocked Elon Musk’s Starlink help, but the deeper mismanagement fight rages on.
A Fire Victim Turns Full-Time Government Watchdog
Spencer Pratt built his fame on reality television, but the Palisades fire turned him into something else: a relentless critic of California’s ruling class. After flames destroyed his home, he told Fox News that Newsom and Bass showed “an absolute disaster of mismanagement, governmental failure, corruption, and incompetence” in their fire response.
Pratt did not stop at angry social media posts. He appeared alongside a Trump administration official at a news conference, directly blaming Newsom and Bass for delaying rebuilding efforts for thousands of families who lost everything. That is not a celebrity complaint. That is a man demanding accountability from officials who spent years promising Californians they were prepared.
Budget Cuts Undercut the Climate Change Talking Point
Newsom’s go-to answer for California’s wildfire disasters has long been climate change. He told reporters years ago that “the debate is over” and that anyone who disagrees is “in denial”. But that message gets harder to sell once the budget numbers come out. A review of the state’s 2024-25 budget found Newsom cut more than $100 million from wildfire and forest resilience programs just months before the deadly Palisades fire.
Pratt has hammered this exact contradiction. He does not buy that a warming planet, rather than choices made in Sacramento, explains why fire crews and forest management fell short. The Hollywood Reporter noted Pratt is especially frustrated that homeowners face strict fire-safety rules for roofing and landscaping, while government agencies neglect their own land near residential neighborhoods. Regular Californians face fines and red tape while officials skip their own maintenance duties.
Pratt Escalates With Accusations of Criminal Conduct
Pratt has not softened his rhetoric with time. In a Fox News appearance, he called Newsom and Bass “alleged criminal partners” and said their failures were complicit in twelve deaths tied to the Palisades fire. He also went public on social media questioning whether promises of rebuilding funds were genuine, writing that “no one genuinely thinks” the state’s help is sincere. Strong words, but they come from a man who watched his own community burn while waiting on officials who kept pointing at the weather instead of their own decisions.
The Starlink Dispute Adds Fuel to the Distrust
Part of the broader fight traces back to Elon Musk, who offered Starlink satellite equipment during the fires and clashed publicly with Newsom over the state’s response. A fact-check found Cal Fire blocked the Starlink units under a policy against accepting gifts, not because Newsom personally ordered it removed from an incident command post. That detail matters. It shows some viral claims against Newsom did not hold up. But it does nothing to erase the budget cuts or the years of climate-first messaging that Pratt says masked real management failures on the ground.
State Officials Point to Billions in Spending
Newsom’s office insists it has done the opposite of cutting corners. State officials point to a $2 billion investment in Cal Fire operations, a 47% increase since 2018, plus a task force with 25 deliverables meant to protect communities from fire risk. Those numbers are real. But conservatives watching this fight know that raising a budget line item years ago does not undo a $100 million cut made right before disaster struck. Spending more money does not automatically mean spending it wisely, and Pratt’s core complaint is about competence, not just cash.
For a conservative audience already skeptical of one-party rule in Sacramento, Pratt’s crusade lands as validation. A Hollywood outsider with no political career on the line has spent a year saying what many Californians already believed: government officials would rather blame the climate than admit their own choices left communities exposed. Whether or not Pratt wins any formal investigation, his public pressure keeps a spotlight on decisions that Newsom’s team would clearly rather leave in the past.
Sources:
twitchy.com, nypost.com, tmz.com, nbcnews.com, politico.com, foxnews.com, politifact.com, hollywoodreporter.com
