I'm going to take your job and remove all these toxic entities
In a city still reckoning with the ash of the Palisades Fire, a podcaster who left California and a reality star who lost his home have found common cause — their conversation a mirror held up to Los Angeles's unresolved grief over mismanagement, homelessness, and the question of who deserves to lead a wounded city. Joe Rogan's endorsement of Spencer Pratt for mayor, offered from the comfortable distance of Texas, is less a political act than a cultural signal: that celebrity credibility now flows through microphones as readily as through ballot boxes. Pratt's campaign, born from personal loss and sharpened by public frustration, asks whether a city can be reclaimed by someone who has already lost something irreplaceable within it.
- Rogan greeted Pratt as 'Mr. Mayor' before the episode was minutes old, transforming a podcast appearance into a de facto endorsement heard by millions.
- Pratt, whose home was consumed by the Palisades Fire, is channeling personal devastation into a direct challenge to incumbent Karen Bass, calling the empty reservoir during fire season 'criminal mismanagement.'
- The campaign is fighting on multiple fronts — against Bass's emergency record, against a Los Angeles Times piece questioning Pratt's eligibility, and against a homelessness crisis his own family fled at the preschool gates.
- Rogan's prior amplification of Trump's presidential run looms over the endorsement, reminding observers that his reach can reshape political momentum in ways traditional media no longer can.
- Whether podcast energy converts to votes remains the open question, but the race is now clearly being contested on the ground of fire recovery, public safety, and the cost of years of deferred accountability.
Joe Rogan, who traded California for Texas, welcomed Spencer Pratt onto his podcast Wednesday with a greeting that doubled as a political declaration: 'What's going on, Mr. Mayor?' He was candid about his distance from the ballot — he no longer lives in Los Angeles — but unambiguous about his preference. If he did, he said, he would vote for Pratt without hesitation.
Pratt is running to unseat Karen Bass, and his campaign has a personal foundation: the Palisades Fire destroyed his home. He has since moved from making critical videos on the sidelines to announcing his candidacy outright, traveling to Washington as a private citizen and deciding that commentary was no longer enough. His language on the podcast was direct — he intends to walk into Bass's headquarters and take her job.
His sharpest charge against Bass is the decision to leave the city's reservoir empty during fire season in a region where dry conditions are a near-certainty. He also pushed back against the Los Angeles Times, which he accused of running a hit piece on his eligibility rather than engaging with his actual arguments — a move he characterized as institutional protection of the incumbent.
Homelessness featured prominently in the conversation. Pratt described Skid Row as having swallowed the city whole, and offered a personal measure of the crisis: his wife considered leaving Los Angeles entirely, and the breaking point came when their son's preschool, across from Palisades Elementary, became a place where the family witnessed public indecency every morning. He also criticized City Council chair Nithya Raman for waiting until her own mayoral campaign to acknowledge problems she had six years to address.
Rogan's endorsement carries a history. He previously amplified Donald Trump's presidential campaign, demonstrating a proven ability to move political conversations at scale. His backing of Pratt suggests that celebrity influence remains a live force in Los Angeles politics — and that the mayoral race will be fought, at least in part, on the question of whether Bass's tenure has left the city more broken than she found it.
Joe Rogan, the podcaster and former kickboxer who abandoned California for Texas, sat down with reality television personality Spencer Pratt for a two-hour conversation that aired Wednesday. Early in the episode, Rogan made his political leanings unmistakable. "What's going on, Mr. Mayor?" he greeted Pratt, then pivoted to a direct statement of support. He acknowledged the geographic obstacle to his own participation—he no longer lives in Los Angeles—but removed any ambiguity about his preference. If he still lived there, he said, he would vote for Pratt without hesitation.
Pratt is running to unseat Karen Bass in the upcoming mayoral election. His campaign centers on a single, personal grievance: Bass's handling of the Palisades Fire last year, which destroyed his home. In his social media response to the podcast appearance, Pratt framed the endorsement as validation of his larger mission. He wrote that his goal is to make Los Angeles so appealing that he could convince Rogan to return from Texas. The comment was lighthearted, but it underscored the stakes Pratt sees in the race—a city so damaged by mismanagement that even those who fled it might consider coming back.
During the conversation, Pratt articulated his critique of Bass's emergency preparedness. He called the decision to leave the city's reservoir empty during fire season "criminal mismanagement." The fact that this happened in a region known for massive fires, in a place where dry conditions are predictable, struck him as inexplicable. He also took aim at the Los Angeles Times for what he characterized as a hit piece questioning his eligibility to run, arguing that the newspaper was protecting Bass by attacking him on technical grounds rather than engaging with the substance of his argument.
Pratt explained his decision to enter the race as a turning point in his own thinking. He had spent time making videos and speaking out against Bass's policies, but eventually concluded that criticism from the sidelines was insufficient. He traveled to Washington, met with officials in his capacity as a private citizen, and decided the moment had come to move from commentary to action. His language was blunt: he intended to enter Bass's headquarters and take her job, then remove what he called the toxic entities destroying Los Angeles.
The conversation also touched on homelessness, a crisis Pratt views as both a policy failure and a lived reality for residents. He described Skid Row as so expansive that it might as well be renamed Los Angeles itself. His family had experienced the problem directly. His wife, he said, was disturbed enough by the homeless crisis to consider leaving the city entirely. The breaking point came when his son's preschool, located across from Palisades Elementary, became a place where his family witnessed public indecency each morning at 7:45. Pratt also criticized Nithya Raman, the City Council chair overseeing the homeless plan, for waiting until her own mayoral run to acknowledge problems she had six years to address.
Rogan's endorsement carries weight beyond the podcast audience. He previously amplified Donald Trump's presidential campaign, demonstrating his capacity to move political conversations. His backing of Pratt signals that celebrity influence remains a factor in Los Angeles politics, particularly in the aftermath of the Palisades Fire, when residents are reassessing their leadership and their city's future. Whether Pratt can translate podcast momentum into electoral victory remains uncertain, but the conversation made clear that the race will be fought partly on the terrain of fire preparedness, homelessness, and the question of whether Bass's tenure has left Los Angeles worse off than it was before.
Citas Notables
If I lived in Los Angeles, no question whatsoever, I would vote for you.— Joe Rogan to Spencer Pratt
The fact that the reservoir was empty was criminal mismanagement. It was just insanity that everybody knew that we had fires.— Spencer Pratt on Karen Bass's fire preparedness
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why does Rogan's endorsement matter? He doesn't even live in California anymore.
Because he represents something Pratt needs—permission to be taken seriously. Rogan has an audience of millions, and he's shown he can move political conversations. When he says he'd vote for Pratt, he's not just expressing a preference. He's validating Pratt's shift from celebrity commentary to actual candidacy.
Pratt lost his home in the fire. Is that what's driving his campaign, or is it something larger?
It's both. The fire is personal—it gave him standing to speak about Bass's failures. But his frustration seems deeper. He's angry that criticism didn't work, that videos and social media weren't enough to move the needle. Running for office is his way of saying the system isn't responding to what people are telling it.
What about the homelessness angle? That felt like a shift in the conversation.
It's not a shift for Pratt. He's arguing that Bass has failed on multiple fronts—fire preparedness, homelessness, the overall livability of the city. The preschool story is brutal because it's concrete. It's not abstract policy failure. It's his wife wanting to leave, his son's school becoming unsafe.
Do you think Pratt can actually win?
That's the open question. He has celebrity backing now, a personal story, and he's running against an incumbent in a city that's genuinely angry. But he also has questions about his residency, and he's a reality TV star, not a politician. The Palisades Fire made him credible on one issue. Whether that's enough to win a mayoral race is something else entirely.
What does this say about Los Angeles right now?
It says the city is in a moment of reckoning. The fire exposed real failures in emergency management. Homelessness is visible and urgent. People are leaving or considering leaving. In that environment, a celebrity outsider with a personal stake in the outcome doesn't seem as implausible as it might have a year ago.