Several Hollywood stars and figures have come out publicly against Democratic leaders in California as a new wildfire rages around Los Angeles, destroying multi-million dollar homes and causing tens of billions in damage. In particular, criticism has been heaped on LA Major Karen Bass and Gov. Gavin Newsom for policies seen as contributing to the large-scale devastation, including the loss of homes by stars like Billy Crystal, whose residence of 46 years has now been destroyed.
Actress Sarah Michelle Gellar chastised Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass on Tuesday as the Palisades Fire burned in Los Angeles. “City of LA you want everyone to evacuate yet you have complete gridlock and not one traffic cop on the roads helping,” Gellar wrote on Instagram stories with tags to the official social media accounts for the City of Los Angeles and Bass.
Former “Dancing with the Stars” professional dancer Valentin Chmerkovskiy aired grievances on social media Wednesday, writing, “5th largest economy on the planet. Firefighters didn’t have enough water pressure to do their jobs?! Are you joking me?! The taxes we pay for 3rd world infrastructure is unbelievable?! Come on.”
Actress Sara Foster wrote on X, We pay the highest taxes in California. Our fire hydrants were empty. Our vegetation was overgrown, brush not cleared. Our reservoirs were emptied by our governor because tribal leaders wanted to save fish. Our fire department budget was cut by our mayor. But thank god drug addicts are getting their drug kits. @MayorOfLA @GavinNewsom RESIGN. Your far left policies have ruined our state. And also our party.”
Also, celebrity fitness trainer Jillian Michaels recalled when she lost her home in the 2018 Woolsey Fire as she took to X to criticize California’s leadership. “The mayor is apparently in Ghana,” she wrote. “The fire departments budget was apparently cut by 17 mil. And someone made the decision to not refill some of the reservoirs – now some fire hydrants are dry. Leadership in California is beyond negligent. This is completely unacceptable.”
Writing in another post, Michaels added: “California governor @GavinNewsom issues a press release admitting they knew about the insane fire risk this past Sunday because he was propositioning fire engines. And yet, he just called in the national guard a few hours ago. Pacific Palisades ran out of water at 3am. I’m so so upset for the people of California. My family who stayed. My lifelong friends who live there. Our brave firefighters. This is not a partisan issue it’s pure incompetence and misprioritization.”
President-elect Donald Trump has also weighed in, accusing Newsom of misplaced priorities regarding water management. “Governor Gavin Newscum refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way,” Trump wrote. He added: “He wanted to protect an essentially worthless fish called a smelt… but didn’t care about the people of California. Now the ultimate price is being paid.”
