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Spencer Pratt is probably thrilled: Los Angeles’ would-be mayor has finally drawn the wrath of Jimmy Kimmel.
The ABC late night host took aim at the former reality TV star turned political candidate on Wednesday night Jimmy Kimmel Live! monologue.
Kimmel criticized Pratt for his lack of leadership experience amid his showdown against Karen Bass and City Councilwoman Nithya Raman. However, Kimmel began, surprisingly enough, to fully agree with many of Pratt’s criticisms of Los Angeles and the city’s current leadership.
“Let’s be honest, this city is a mess,” Kimmel said. “That became clear during [Pacific Palisades] Fires. But the people who run this city, when you say: “This city is a mess,” they say: “No, actually, it is not and we are doing too much.” We look around and say: “I don’t see that.” Then they said, “Oh, he’s there, and things are getting better.” This makes people who live here upset, especially people whose homes and neighborhoods burned down, who are trying to run businesses with people who need help sleeping outside their restaurant door because they have nowhere else to go. They are frustrated because there doesn’t seem to be any change.
“Then you get a guy…whose profession is to be a screaming idiot on reality shows and his house burns down,” Kimmel continues. “So, even though he didn’t have private insurance on his house and doesn’t believe in climate change, he’s understandably upset that his house burned down. And because he’s a fairly famous person, he’s getting attention… For the first time in his life, people are agreeing with what he has to say. And it’s hard not to agree with what he has to say. He’s angry about the same problems that a lot of people here are angry about. Does he have solutions to those problems? No.”
Pratt likely disagrees, having made campaign promises about boosting fire response resources and detailing a (divisive) plan to combat homelessness in a nine-minute video.
“So this reality star, who grew up rich and popular, and is not very rich and popular anymore, starts enjoying the attention and thinking, ‘You know, I should be the mayor’ — a statement that should make everyone laugh,” Kimmel continued. “Not everyone sees this as a joke… He’s living in the Hotel Bel-Air at the same time he’s making a video saying he’s living in a trailer in the burned-out area where his house used to be… And yet, there’s still a group of people out there, many of whom think they’re liberal, and they So angry that they are willing to overlook this. Do you think this guy wants to sit at city council meetings all day talking about zoning? no. He wants to become a star again. And guess what? “It works.”
“That’s exactly what Donald Trump did,” Kimmel said. “I know this for a fact: Donald Trump ran for president because his TV show was going to be canceled, and he wanted to be relevant again. The difference between Donald Trump and this guy is that Donald Trump actually had a job before he became president. He wasn’t good at the job. He got all his money from his father. The only thing he was good at was promoting himself. And it turned out that was enough.”
Are we really going to risk repeating that mistake we made with Trump, in Los Angeles, of all places?” Kimmel asked. “Mayor shouldn’t be your first job. The mayor of Los Angeles is responsible for an annual budget of $14 billion. “Spencer Pratt is not the person who should be responsible for this… If you don’t want to vote for Karen Bass on June 2, I understand that, but you better find someone else to vote for, preferably someone who doesn’t waste our time and money getting back on TV.”
Pratt responded to the monologue on social media: “Jimmy is secretly voting for me.”
According to a new UC Berkeley-Los Angeles Times poll, the three candidates are in a very close race: Bass on 26 percent, Raman on 25 percent, and Pratt on 22 percent among likely voters, with 10 percent undecided. Both Raman and Pratt have risen eight percentage points since March. The elections are scheduled to be held on June 2, and the two candidates with the largest number of votes will qualify for a runoff.
