• Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag were photographed having breakfast in Carpinteria, CA, with no security present
• Pratt has cited death threats as the reason he’s been staying at the Hotel Bel-Air rather than his fire-damaged Pacific Palisades property
• A new Emerson College poll shows Pratt at 22% — just behind incumbent Mayor Karen Bass at 30% — ahead of the June 3 primary
• Chelsea Handler publicly slammed Pratt’s candidacy, and he clapped back by sharing a clip of Shane Gillis roasting her at the Netflix Kevin Hart roast
• Heidi Montag’s two-word tweet — “Wake up” — racked up nearly 188,000 views and over 9,500 likes over the weekend

Spencer Pratt has apparently found his version of a safe haven — and it’s about two hours north of the city he’s trying to run.

Photos obtained by TMZ show Pratt and his wife, Heidi Montag, wrapping up breakfast Monday morning at Corazon Cocina Sur in Carpinteria, California — a small, laid-back seaside city in Santa Barbara County that bills itself as the “World’s Safest Beach.” The couple appeared relaxed and in good spirits, with no security detail in sight. Pratt wore a black Heidiwood t-shirt, shorts, and a hat. Montag kept it equally casual. The restaurant looked mostly empty.

The low-key outing comes as Pratt’s Los Angeles mayoral campaign has become anything but. He’s previously told TMZ that he’s been staying at the ritzy Hotel Bel-Air — not the Airstream trailer prominently featured in his campaign ads — specifically because of death threats, and because the hotel has its own armed security. His campaign dropped a new ad Monday morning, right around the time the Carpinteria photos were taken, leaning directly into that controversy rather than running from it.

If Carpinteria feels like a dry run for something more permanent, that might not be accidental. Pratt told The Adam Carolla Show this weekend that he’s ready to walk away from LA entirely if things don’t go his way: “If Karen Bass gets reelected or Nithya [Raman] gets elected, I will be done with trying to live in LA.”

The Race Is Tighter Than Anyone Expected

For all the noise around the hotel-vs.-trailer story, the actual polling numbers are the real headline. A new Emerson College survey shows incumbent Mayor Karen Bass leading with 30% support — but Pratt is right behind her at 22%, with Councilmember Nithya Raman at 19%. The top two finishers in the June 3 primary advance to a November runoff, which means Pratt is genuinely in contention.

He’s also raised serious money. The latest financial disclosures show Pratt has pulled in more than $538,000 — just edging out Raman’s $530,000, though Bass, who started fundraising for reelection back in 2024, sits on a $2.3 million war chest.

The celebrity backing has been notable. Grammy-winning producer David Foster and his wife Katharine McPhee hosted a fundraiser at their Brentwood home, where McPhee performed a customized version of Tina Turner’s “Simply the Best” for the campaign. Paris Hilton — who, like Pratt, lost her home in the Palisades fire — has also publicly endorsed him. And rumors have been circulating in conservative circles that a Trump endorsement could be coming. When asked about it, Pratt responded in classic form: with a GIF of himself.

Bass, for her part, has raised concerns about the tone of the race, saying Pratt’s messaging has turned “violent” on social media. AI-generated ads — many made by supporters, not the official campaign — depict her as a fictional villain being pelted with blood-red tomatoes. She’s called it a “dangerous trend” that risks provoking unstable individuals.

Chelsea Handler Steps In, and Pratt Fires Back Hard

The campaign got another jolt of drama over the weekend when Chelsea Handler posted a TikTok taking direct aim at Pratt. Glass in hand, she delivered her verdict: “Oh, hi, if you’re seeing this video, this is a reminder that a straight, white male former reality star that has no previous experience in government should not be a legitimate political candidate.” The video was captioned “Have we not learned anything?”

Pratt’s response was swift and pointed. He shared a clip from the Netflix Roast of Kevin Hart, hosted by Shane Gillis, in which Gillis roasted Handler over her attendance at a 2010 dinner party hosted by Jeffrey Epstein — by then already a convicted sex offender and registered for trafficking minors. The party was organized by publicist Peggy Siegal. A year later, Epstein received an invitation to Handler’s book launch through Andre Balazs, her then-boyfriend and owner of the Chateau Marmont, who had planned to host the event at his Boom Boom Room venue in New York’s Meatpacking District.

The Chateau Marmont itself got pulled into the orbit of the story this week — an X account for the hotel posted a message of support for Pratt after news broke about his Hotel Bel-Air accommodations.

Heidi’s Two Words That Broke the Internet

While her husband was trading blows with Handler and campaigning through Silver Lake and the San Fernando Valley, Heidi Montag was busy going viral all on her own — with just two words.

On Saturday, Montag posted to X: “Wake up.” That’s it. No context, no explanation. But the post, sent to her more than one million followers, exploded almost immediately — racking up nearly 188,000 views in hours, over 9,500 likes, and hundreds of comments. Fans and observers flooded her replies with interpretations, many reading it as a quiet signal of support for Pratt’s campaign, others just marveling at the chaos a two-word tweet from a former Hills star could still generate in 2026.

It didn’t mention politics. It didn’t have to. In the Pratt-Montag universe, the subtext does the work.

The primary is June 3. Spencer Pratt is eating breakfast in a small beach town two hours from Los Angeles, his campaign dropping ads, his wife breaking the internet with two words, and a polling position that would have seemed absurd six months ago. Whatever happens next, he’s made sure no one is looking away.

The post Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag Spotted Dining Out Amid Death Threats appeared first on Cream.

• Spencer Pratt fired back at Chelsea Handler after she compared him to Donald Trump in a profanity-laced Instagram video
• A new Emerson College poll shows Pratt in second place with 22%, just eight points behind incumbent Mayor Karen Bass
• Pratt’s team flatly denied reports from TMZ and Deadline that his campaign is being filmed as a reality series for Boardwalk Pictures
• Billionaire donors including Dan Loeb, Bobby Kotick, the Winklevoss twins, and Jeanie Buss have poured money into his campaign
• The L.A. mayoral primary is set for June 2, with a runoff possible if no candidate clears 50%

Spencer Pratt’s run for Los Angeles mayor has officially become one of the most chaotic, compelling, and genuinely hard-to-look-away political stories in the country right now — and that was before Chelsea Handler got involved.

On Friday, May 15, Handler posted a video to Instagram pouring herself a drink and delivering a pointed message about Pratt’s political ambitions. “If you’re seeing this video, this is a reminder that a straight, white male, former reality star that has no previous experience in government should not be a legitimate political candidate,” she said, as photos of Pratt flashed on screen — followed by a goofy shot of Donald Trump. “Have we learned anything yet? The bar is on the f—— floor, people, and I need you to jump over it.”

Pratt, who has never once in his public life backed down from a fight, responded quickly. He posted a clip on X from comedian Shane Gillis’ set at the recent Netflix Kevin Hart roast — specifically the part where Gillis cracks a joke about Handler having attended a dinner at Jeffrey Epstein’s house in 2010, with Prince Andrew and Woody Allen also at the table. The Epstein card. He played it.

Their tension isn’t new. Handler spent years taking shots at Pratt and his wife Heidi Montag on her late-night show Chelsea Lately back in the late 2000s, so this particular feud has been simmering for over a decade. The Handler-Gillis dynamic had already been heating up after an onstage confrontation at the Netflix Is A Joke festival finale at the Kia Forum on May 10, and Pratt clearly saw an opening.

The Polls Are Not Laughing Anymore

What makes this feud genuinely newsworthy — beyond the obvious entertainment value — is that Pratt is no longer a punchline in this race. A new Emerson College Polling/Inside California Politics survey conducted May 9-10 among 1,000 likely primary voters shows incumbent Mayor Karen Bass at 30%, with Pratt right behind her at 22% — more than doubling his support from 10% back in March. L.A. City Councilmember Nithya Raman sits third at 19%.

Just as striking: the number of undecided voters collapsed from 51% in March to just 16% now. People are making up their minds, and a lot of them are landing on Pratt.

Prediction markets are tracking the shift too. Both Polymarket and Kalshi currently give Bass roughly a 58-59% chance of winning, with Pratt at 25% and Raman at 17-18%. That’s a real number for a guy who got his start as a reality TV villain on MTV.

Bass herself, in a one-on-one interview with ABC7’s Josh Haskell, acknowledged the obvious. “I think he’s tapping into the anger and frustration that people have,” she said. “I think we’re a celebrity-driven culture.” When asked directly whether she thought Pratt knew what it takes to run the second-largest city in the country, she was blunt: “I don’t think he has a clue.”

Pratt launched his campaign in January, one year after the Palisades Fire destroyed his Pacific Palisades home along with more than 18,000 other structures. “We are standing here amongst the ashes of our once beautiful town because the state and local leaders let us burn,” he said at the time. “They all stood by while our community became a tinder box.” Since then, he’s turned that fury into a full anti-establishment campaign targeting Bass, homelessness, public safety, and government corruption — and, apparently, attracting some very serious money along the way.

Billionaires, Fundraisers, and a Katharine McPhee Performance

The donor list that’s coalesced around Pratt would raise eyebrows in any political race. According to the New York Times DealBook, among those backing him financially are hedge fund billionaire Dan Loeb of Third Point Capital, former Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, crypto moguls Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, entertainment mogul Haim Saban (estimated net worth: $3.3 billion), Lakers governor Jeanie Buss, Universal Music Group chairman Lucian Grainge, his son Elliot Grainge of Atlantic Music Group, and Hollywood producer Brian Grazer.

Democratic strategist Michael Trujillo put it plainly: “Unfortunately, my entire life is talking to people in the industry, but I can report that everyone was pleasantly — or unpleasantly — surprised by Spencer Pratt’s debate performance.”

The debate in question had 79% of NBC viewers declaring Pratt the winner, according to polling cited in reports. His dismissal of Raman as a “random city council member” went viral almost immediately. “All the unions support Mayor Bass,” he said afterward. “You think it’s easier to run against the incumbent mayor with all the unions, or a random city council member who has been a failure for six years?”

Earlier this week, Katharine McPhee and David Foster hosted a fundraiser at their Brentwood mansion that drew a crowd of entertainment industry heavyweights. McPhee performed a modified version of Tina Turner’s “The Best” with Foster on keys, singing, “You’re simply the best / Better than all the rest / Better than Karen Bass / And Nithya Raman.” She accidentally called Raman “Cynthia” at one point, laughed it off, and Pratt just shrugged.

Perhaps the most eyebrow-raising development on the donor front: Nicole Avant — Hollywood scion, wife of Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos, and former Obama-era ambassador — has reportedly indicated she plans to support Pratt. The reaction in Democratic circles was immediate. “What the f-k?” said one veteran political consultant, per Page Six Hollywood. “She’s crossing a line she won’t be able to come back from. She’s done as a Democratic donor.”

Avant had previously backed Rick Caruso in the last mayoral race, which Bass won by nearly 10 points.

The Reality Show That Isn’t (Or Is It?)

The week also brought a wave of reports — from both TMZ and Deadline — claiming Pratt had signed a deal with Boardwalk Pictures (the Santa Monica production company behind Netflix’s AKA Charlie Sheen and FX’s Welcome to Wrexham) to document his campaign and, potentially, his time in office. “It’s both familiar and uncharted territory, isn’t it?” a production source told Deadline. “That’s part of Spencer and Heidi’s appeal, right?”

Pratt’s team moved fast to shut it down. “This is inaccurate,” a spokesperson told TheWrap. “There is no series in production and cameras have not been following the campaign. He does not have any signed contract. No contract exists related to this because it isn’t true.” A rep also told Us Weekly he has “no plans to do so” going forward.

Boardwalk Pictures did not respond to requests for comment. Separately, the couple had been in talks with Hulu about a show documenting their life after the fires, but that project has not been greenlit.

The denial hasn’t stopped the chatter. One insider told Radar Online that regardless of whether cameras are officially rolling, “Spencer may have denied he is shooting this campaign for a reality show, but it is still a reality show-style circus of a campaign. He has spent years watching how celebrity culture and politics have merged together, and he genuinely believes the old rules no longer apply.”

Hotel Bel-Air, Airstreams, and Where He Actually Lives

Another controversy hit when TMZ reported that Pratt had been staying at the Hotel Bel-Air — where rooms start at $1,500 a night — rather than the Airstream trailer parked on the lot of his burned-down Pacific Palisades home, which featured prominently in his campaign ads. The clip, in which he stands in front of the trailer saying “This is where I live,” has drawn over 13.8 million views.

Pratt’s response on X was pointed: “Hey guys, why don’t they wanna talk about why I need a hotel in the first place? Karen Bass let my home burn down. Also 6,000 of my neighbors. NBD.”

On TMZ Live, he elaborated. “I don’t live at the Hotel Bel-Air. I don’t live in the Airstream. I don’t live in Santa Barbara. I don’t have a house. They burned it down.” He said the Airstream had become unsafe for security reasons — citing “vantage points for a would-be sniper” — and that the Hotel Bel-Air was simply the safest option available. His wife Heidi and their sons Gunner, 8, and Ryker, 3, have been staying in Carpinteria, California.

“That is where I live, period,” he said of the Palisades property. “I don’t need to sleep there every night. I don’t need to go number two on that toilet. That is where I live.”

The Obama Comparison and The View’s Reaction

If there’s one moment that crystallized the absurdity of this whole situation, it might be Pratt’s recent interview with NBC Los Angeles, in which he compared his experience to Barack Obama’s pre-political career. “I have two awards from my community,” he told anchor Conan Nolan. “President Obama actually didn’t even have awards when he was a community organizer. He was able to become a senator and then a president for eight years. So, I feel like him, and I have the same experience.”

The View addressed it Wednesday. Joy Behar’s response was immediate: “What? Snapchatter of the Year is not the same thing as head of the Law Review at Harvard?” Sunny Hostin pointed out that Obama graduated from Harvard Law School and served in the U.S. Senate before the White House. Behar also noted that Bass holds a JFK Profiles in Courage Award, while Pratt’s standout credential is winning Snapchatter of the Year at the 2018 Shorty Awards.

To be fair, Sara Haines and Alyssa Farah Griffin both pushed back slightly, arguing that Ivy League credentials don’t automatically translate to effective governance — but the audience was mostly laughing.

Not everyone in Pratt’s orbit is cheering him on, either. His sister Stephanie Pratt wrote on X in February: “Spencer has done great work for the Palisades. But LA does not need another unqualified and inexperienced mayor. A vote for him is a vote for stupidity.”

Pratt, for his part, has leaned into the outsider framing. “I’m no longer a reality star,” he’s insisted. “I’m the only candidate living in reality, too.” His campaign has run AI-generated videos depicting him as a Batman-style vigilante fighting a dystopian Los Angeles, with Bass cast as the Joker. He’s also posted a clip using Khloé Kardashian screaming “liar” from an old episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, spliced over footage of Bass from the recent debate.

The June 2 primary is now just days away. If no candidate clears 50%, the top two vote-getters advance to a November runoff — which, given the current numbers, looks increasingly likely. Whether Pratt makes it to that stage, or whether Bass pulls away as undecided voters make their final calls, the race has already done something remarkable: it’s made people outside of Los Angeles pay attention to a city council election.

“Funny how they never attack my policy ideas,” Pratt posted on X this week. “They can only try to assassinate your character. I’m in the arena, son.”

The post Spencer Pratt’s Mayor Run: Chelsea Fight, Poll Surge & More appeared first on Cream.

• Katharine McPhee and David Foster hosted a fundraiser for Spencer Pratt’s LA mayoral campaign at their Brentwood Park home
• McPhee sang a rewritten version of Tina Turner’s “Simply the Best” targeting opponents Karen Bass and Nithya Raman
• Academy Award-winning producer Brian Grazer was among the guests; Lakers minority owner Jeanie Buss has donated the maximum $1,800 to Pratt’s campaign
• New polling shows Bass leading at 30%, Pratt at 22%, and Raman at 19% ahead of the June 2 primary
• Pratt launched his campaign after losing his Pacific Palisades home in the 2025 wildfires

Spencer Pratt’s Los Angeles mayoral campaign just got its most Hollywood moment yet. Over the weekend, Grammy-winning producer David Foster and his wife Katharine McPhee opened up their Brentwood Park home for a lavish backyard fundraiser — and McPhee didn’t just show up. She performed.

Footage posted to Instagram by One America News Network anchor Alicia Summers shows Foster, 76, at the keyboard while McPhee, 42, belts out a custom rewrite of Tina Turner’s “Simply the Best” — renamed, effectively, as a campaign anthem. “He is simply the best, better than all the rest, better than Karen Bass and Nithya Raman,” she sang as Pratt, also 42, looked on. “He’s going to fix this broken LA.”

There was one small hiccup. At one point McPhee blanked on Raman’s first name, calling the LA city councilmember “Cynthia” instead of Nithya. When she caught herself and pointed it out, Pratt just shrugged — apparently not entirely sure of the name either.

“You know the tide is turning in California when David Foster and Katharine Foster open their home and write a song for Spencer Pratt,” Summers wrote in her caption. “La La Land is ready for a plot twist.”

A Hollywood Night With Real Political Weight

The guest list carried some serious industry weight. Vanity Fair confirmed that Academy Award-winning producer Brian Grazer — the man behind Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, and The Da Vinci Code — was in attendance, with a photo reposted to Pratt’s Instagram story. Grazer, notably, is no stranger to Hollywood controversy himself: he recently acknowledged there was “blowback” from colleagues after his vote for President Trump became public.

The Foster connection runs deeper than just a favor between neighbors. During an appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience in April, Pratt recalled that Foster — who he affectionately calls “the Fos Man” — once gave him a piece of advice that shaped his entire reality TV career: “You got to be like Simon Cowell.” Pratt credits that nudge with helping him lean into his villain role on The Hills. Now, years later, the same man whose daughters Erin and Sara Foster created Netflix’s Nobody Wants This was helping legitimize Pratt’s political ambitions from his own backyard.

Publicly backing a candidate who has been labeled “MAGA” and “Trumpian” by critics still carries reputational risk in Hollywood circles. But the Fosters hosting this fundraiser suggests that stigma may be softening — at least among some corners of the entertainment world.

Growing Momentum and a Crowded Celebrity Corner

The fundraiser is the latest sign that Pratt’s unconventional campaign is drawing real traction. Los Angeles Lakers minority owner Jeanie Buss donated the maximum allowable $1,800 to his campaign. Former View co-host Meghan McCain has endorsed him. So have reality TV veterans Kristin Cavallari, Jax Taylor, Brody Jenner, Audrina Patridge, and Jonathan “FoodGod” Cheban — who went so far as to say he’ll move back to Los Angeles if Pratt wins. “I miss the LA energy, and only Spencer could bring it back,” Cheban said.

Paris Hilton, Jamie Kennedy, DJ Kaskade, podcaster Nick Viall, former Millionaire Matchmaker star Patti Stanger, actor James Woods, and former Hills co-star Doug Reinhardt round out a supporter list that reads like a 2000s pop culture reunion. Entertainment producer Jeff Jenkins and businessman Rick Salomon are also among his donors.

His campaign has leaned hard into viral social media content, podcast appearances, and meme culture — framing Los Angeles as a city in freefall under the current leadership. And it appears to be working, at least in terms of visibility. A recent Emerson College Polling/Inside California Politics survey shows incumbent Mayor Karen Bass leading the field at 30%, with Pratt climbing to 22% and city councilmember Nithya Raman at 19%.

Pratt has also reportedly overtaken Bass in campaign fundraising — a notable benchmark for a candidate many initially dismissed.

The Fire That Started It All

Pratt’s entire candidacy traces back to January 2025, when the Palisades Fire tore through his Pacific Palisades neighborhood, destroying his home along with roughly 6,000 others. He launched his campaign shortly after, centering it on what he calls Bass’s failed wildfire response, along with promises to address homelessness and crack down on crime.

When news broke recently that Pratt, his wife Heidi Montag, and their two sons had moved from a temporary trailer into the Hotel Bel-Air, some critics questioned the optics. Pratt didn’t take that quietly. On X, he fired back: “Hey guys, why don’t they wanna talk about why I need a hotel in the first place? Karen Bass let my home burn down. Also 6,000 of my neighbors. NBD.”

Bass and Raman’s campaigns did not respond to requests for comment on Pratt’s growing celebrity support or fundraising momentum.

GOP strategist Mike Madrid sees a tactical angle in all of this for Bass. “I think the chances of Bass making the runoff are considerably higher than they were before the debate,” he said. “She’s been trying to elevate Pratt. That’s the best way that she can survive.” A Pratt-Bass runoff, Madrid argues, benefits both candidates — and cuts Raman out of the picture entirely.

The June 2 primary will determine whether it comes to that. If no candidate wins a majority, the top two advance to the general election on November 3. One thing is clear: Spencer Pratt is no longer just a punchline. And Katharine McPhee just made sure everyone in Brentwood — and beyond — knows it.

The post McPhee Serenades Spencer Pratt at Star-Studded Fundraiser appeared first on Cream.

• Magic Johnson publicly endorsed LA Mayor Karen Bass for reelection, citing a 30-year friendship and her record on homelessness and crime.
• The endorsement drew immediate backlash online, with critics calling Johnson “out of touch” since he lives in Beverly Hills, not within LA city limits.
• Trump official Richard Grenell called the endorsement “beyond pathetic” and a “selfish move” given the city’s struggles.
• Lakers owner Jeanie Buss has thrown her support behind challenger Spencer Pratt, donating the maximum $1,800 to his campaign.
• The LA mayoral primary is less than a month away, with Bass, Pratt, and Councilmember Nithya Raman among the top candidates.

Magic Johnson has officially picked a side in the Los Angeles mayoral race — and it’s costing him some goodwill. The basketball legend publicly endorsed incumbent Mayor Karen Bass for reelection on Monday, praising her record on homelessness and public safety. But instead of giving Bass’s campaign a clean boost, the move has unleashed a wave of criticism directed at both of them.

Bass posted the video endorsement on her social media, in which a visibly enthusiastic Johnson laid out his case. “She sustained the first ever consecutive decrease in homelessness. Homicide rate is down, new housing units, 40,000. I mean, she’s doing a tremendous job,” he said. When Bass walked into the frame, Johnson told her, “You took on a tough job here and you’ve done a fabulous job and all of us appreciate your effort and what you’re doing. We look forward to helping you continue your mission.”

Bass welcomed the support warmly. “Magic Johnson has been my friend for over 30 years. His belief in how I’m changing Los Angeles means everything to me,” she wrote on X. “Magic has poured his heart into this city long before anyone asked him to — through investment, through community, through showing up. I am deeply honored to have his endorsement.”

The Beverly Hills Problem

The problem, critics were quick to point out, is that Johnson doesn’t actually live in Los Angeles. He resides in Beverly Hills — a separate city not among the 114 LA neighborhoods whose residents can cast a vote in the mayoral race. That detail became a rallying point almost immediately.

“Magic is a fool who lives in a guarded compound. The rest of us live in the real world,” one commenter wrote on X. “Oh wow! An endorsement from an out of touch millionaire athlete. Not really an endorsement for the Los Angeles citizens,” said another. A third cut even more directly: “He and you don’t have to live next to homeless junkies like the rest of us.”

Others used the moment to take aim at Bass’s record. “You’ve made L.A. WORSE. Some said it couldn’t be done. Congratulations,” one user wrote. Another accused her of misusing public funds: “Karen you keep stealing from the taxpayers and giving the money to your allies in the unions.”

The pile-on extended beyond social media. Richard Grenell, a Trump administration official, went after Johnson directly on X, calling the endorsement “beyond pathetic” and questioning his motivations. “Los Angeles is in terrible shape and you want Karen ass to be re-elected because she’s your friend?!” Grenell wrote, tagging Johnson and calling it “a selfish move.”

A Lakers Split That’s Hard to Ignore

What makes this particularly striking is who Johnson is now publicly standing against — his former Lakers boss, Jeanie Buss. The two spent decades together building one of the most storied franchises in sports. Johnson served as the team’s president of basketball operations in the late 2010s. Now they’re on opposite sides of a city election.

Buss quietly made her position known last month when she donated $1,800 to Spencer Pratt’s mayoral campaign — the legal maximum. She hasn’t made a formal public endorsement, but the money speaks clearly enough. And over the weekend, Pratt was spotted sitting next to Buss at Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinals between the Lakers and the Oklahoma City Thunder, making the optics even harder to ignore.

Pratt, best known from his reality TV days on The Hills, has built his campaign largely around attacking Bass over her handling of the 2025 wildfires — a catastrophe that killed at least a dozen people and caused billions in damage across the region. His campaign has also hammered her $300 million homeless program, pointing to data suggesting 40 percent of participants have returned to the streets. Only 30 of roughly 16,000 structures destroyed in the fires have been rebuilt, according to activists backing Pratt.

Johnson conspicuously avoided the wildfire issue entirely in his endorsement video. Whether that was a strategic calculation or a genuine blind spot, his critics noticed the omission.

More Than a Former Athlete

To dismiss Johnson as just a celebrity endorser would be to miss the weight he carries in LA civic life. With an estimated net worth of $1.6 billion as of 2026, he holds ownership stakes in the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Los Angeles Sparks, Los Angeles FC, the Washington Commanders, and the Washington Spirit. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2025. He’s been investing in underserved communities in Los Angeles for decades, long before it was fashionable for athletes to do so.

Bass acknowledged exactly that in her response: “Magic has poured his heart into this city long before anyone asked him to.”

But in a race defined by voter frustration over fires, homelessness, and the cost of living, the question isn’t whether Magic Johnson loves Los Angeles. It’s whether an endorsement from someone who doesn’t live within city limits — however beloved — can actually move voters who do. The primary is less than a month away, and the city is watching.

The post Magic Johnson’s Karen Bass Endorsement Draws Fire appeared first on Cream.