Pratt blasts – Spencer Pratt, a Republican candidate for Los Angeles mayor, hit back after a journalist questioned why he was discussing Los Angeles while his home was destroyed in the 2025 Palisades Fire. Pratt said he lost everything, cannot rebuild, and had to move into h
A fight over housing, migration, and political credibility flared Monday between Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt and journalist Marlow Stern, after Stern took issue with Pratt’s personal situation following the 2025 Palisades Fire.
Pratt has said he would leave Los Angeles if he loses the upcoming mayoral election. Stern responded by writing, “He… lives in santa barbara,” after Pratt faced scrutiny tied to the fact that his Los Angeles home burned down in the 2025 Palisades Fire.
Pratt shot back with an emotional account of what he said happened after the fire: “My house burned down.. I lost everything.. I can’t rebuild.. As a 42 year old man with 2 kids. I’ve had to move into my parents’ house. and I’m getting attacked for that?. This is journalism?. This is why no decent people ever get into politics.. This is why you only have goblins running everything.. God help you if you try to make things right for your community…if you lose your entire town. ‘journalists’ mock you for not making your kids sleep in the toxic dirt on your burned out lot.. Who raised you, dude?”
In a post dated May 18, 2026, Pratt wrote the same argument again, adding: “My house burned down.. I lost everything.. I can’t rebuild.. As a 42 year old man with 2 kids. I’ve had to move into my parents’ house. and I’m getting attacked for that?. This is journalism?. This is why no decent people ever get into politics.. This is why you only have goblins…”
Stern had previously said he was aware of Pratt’s relocation. writing on May 17. 2026: “i am aware. but he already left LA almost a year ago so he can stop acting like he still lives there — it’s bizarre.” After Pratt’s reply. the confrontation turned sharper. with Stern accusing Pratt of blocking him and then criticizing what Stern described as an online pattern.
Stern wrote on May 18. 2026 that he “merely pointed out that spencer pratt has lived in santa barbara for the past year and he threw a tantrum and blocked me. which seems rather defensive. ” adding that Stern “then got a lot of tweets from handles that were recently created with a lot of numbers in them and no profile pics.”
The clash also intersects with Pratt’s own explanation for why he entered the race against sitting Mayor Karen Bass. Pratt has cited the Palisades Fire and the destruction of his home as reasons for joining the Los Angeles mayoral contest.
During a debate against Bass this month, Pratt blamed Bass for the fire’s severity. He complained that there were not enough fire engines due to budget cuts and said a reservoir of water that he argued could have been used to combat the fire had been drained under Bass’ leadership.
The sequence of exchanges has a clear pattern in the way it unfolds: Pratt says his Los Angeles home was destroyed in the 2025 Palisades Fire and that he cannot rebuild. Stern counters that Pratt has been living in Santa Barbara for nearly a year. and then Pratt frames the back-and-forth as an attack that mocks him while he tries to rebuild his family’s life after losing everything.
For now. Pratt and Stern are still talking past each other on the central question of whether Pratt’s current location in Santa Barbara undercuts the way he presents himself in a Los Angeles mayoral bid.. Pratt’s argument rests on the fire’s aftermath—“I lost everything.. I can’t rebuild”—while Stern’s contention rests on timing—Pratt “already left LA almost a year ago.”
Spencer Pratt Los Angeles mayoral race Karen Bass Palisades Fire Santa Barbara Marlow Stern housing debate