Spencer Pratt is more certain than ever that he will succeed in his lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles after the apprehension of the suspected arsonist linked to the Southern California wildfires.
The reality television personality, 42, and his family were among the numerous victims who suffered loss when the destructive fire swept through SoCal in January, obliterating Pratt’s community in the Pacific Palisades.
Pratt, alongside his wife Heidi Montag, a pop star, joined other Palisades residents in suing the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power earlier this year. They accused LADWP of ‘failing to maintain an adequate water supply system to combat the blazes.’
Beyond the litigation, Pratt has leveraged his substantial social media following to not only keep the lawsuit publicly highlighted but also to criticize California Governor Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass for what he perceives as their ‘negligence’ in preventing the fires from escalating.
In a conversation with Daily Mail from his Santa Barbara residence, Pratt expressed confidence that he will win the lawsuit after the arrest of Jonathan Rinderknecht, an Uber driver now charged with ‘maliciously’ igniting the fire that evolved into Los Angeles’s most severe inferno.
‘The foundation of our legal argument was always that someone set the Lachman Fire on New Year’s Eve, it was not adequately contained, and it rekindled,’ he explained.
‘This is precisely why Gavin Newsom and the State are culpable; they allowed a fire to smolder for a week without doing anything to mitigate it. This arrest is a shot in the arm for our case, because it validates everything we are arguing.’
Before the fires, Pratt’s social media pages were filled with his life as a dad to sons Gunner, 8, and Ryker, 3, along with crystals, hummingbirds, trips to Erewhon, and weekly date nights with wife Heidi.
Spencer Pratt is more convinced than ever that he’s going to win his lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles following the devastating wildfires earlier this year
The reality star, 42, and his family lost their home and neighborhood when the fires ripped through the Pacific Palisades
Now he largely uses his platform to rail against Newsom and Bass, as well as to provide updates on the aftermath of the fires to his millions of followers.
In early August, Pratt traveled to Washington, D.C. to meet with federal officials, including Attorney General Pam Bondi, to discuss the fires and Newsom’s response, which includes plans to build low-income housing developments in the notoriously affluent Palisades.
But despite his crusade to take down Newsom, Pratt rejects being pigeonholed as an activist.
‘I’m not a political activist. My home burned down. My dad’s home burned down. 12 people died. It should never have happened and I want justice,’ he said.
‘If politicians didn’t fail us, I’d have nothing to complain about, politically.’
While Pratt has tried hard to take an apolitical stance on his campaign to bring justice to the victims of the wildfires, he says that many California residents still refuse to criticize Newsom in the deeply Democratic state.
‘What’s more scary is there are a lot of people who have Stockholm Syndrome,’ he said.
‘Even though the overgrown brush on Topanga State Park burned down their homes, they want us to stop criticizing Gavin Newsom for his culpability, all because they’re afraid it will hurt his presidential election prospects,’ he continued.
Pratt has used his huge social media following to rage against California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass
The reality star believes many Los Angeles residents are afraid to criticize Newsom in case it hurts the politician’s presidential ambitions
‘Their political tribalism supersedes their desire for justice over the loss of their own home. It’s wild to witness.’
The Hills star also admits that he’s received plenty of secret support from L.A.’s celebrity set in private, but when it comes to speaking out publicly there’s been a deafening silence.
‘All that’s required for evil to persist is for good men to remain silent. I wish more people were less afraid of political retribution and simply spoke their minds, then more people would realize they’re not alone,’ he mused.
Pratt’s outspoken stance on Newsom has put him in the firing line of critics, with the New York Times recently claiming that Pratt’s possibly being used as a pawn by Republican politicians to make Democrats look bad.
‘I’ve had the Governor personally attack me, the LA Times and New York Times smear me… you think I care what these people say?’ Pratt says.
‘I have a beautiful wife, beautiful kids, and a mission worthy of my best efforts. I don’t need validation from anyone for anything.’
In early August, Pratt traveled to Washington, D.C. to meet with federal officials, including Attorney General Pam Bondi, to discuss the fires and Newsom’s response
‘I have a beautiful wife, beautiful kids, and a mission worthy of my best efforts. I don’t need validation from anyone for anything,’ he told Daily Mail. (Pictured with wife Heidi Montag)
Newsom certainly hasn’t held back on Pratt, with the Governor’s press office labelling the one-time villain of MTV’s The Hills ‘a C-list reality TV star’ while also accusing him of ‘spreading misinformation’ about the fires.
When asked what it is about his activism that has triggered the likes of Newsom and Major Bass so much, Pratt doesn’t mince words.
‘It’s that deep-seated realization that they are culpable. They failed us. They know it,’ he stressed.
‘No amount of spin and deflection can change the fact that, deep down, they know it’s their fault. It’s psychology 101. When someone is guilty, they lash out like crazy and they go on the attack.’
Pratt, who is selling branded baseball caps branded with ‘Newsom will not be President’, still believes that Newsom has zero chance of ever entering the Oval Office.
‘It will never happen, so it’s not even a dystopian fantasy that I could even entertain in the first place. Might as well ask me what would be the worst part of living on Pluto,’ he sniffed.
