Spencer Pratt’s ‘Angry L.A. White Guy’ act collides with reality at tonight’s debate
Last week, the Hollywood Reporter published a great essay describing Spencer Pratt’s mayoral run not as a joke or even a headline-grabbing act, but something as L.A. as the Dodgers.
The piece situated the reality TV star’s “grievance politics” in a longstanding L.A. tradition of “consequential strains of backlash” against the city’s liberal establishment, from former Mayor Sam Yorty and Trump adviser Stephen Miller to Prop. 13 prophet Howard Jarvis.
Writer Gary Baum also referenced Pratt’s reimagining of the poster for the 1993 Michael Douglas film “Falling Down,” about a laid-off defense contractor’s increasingly violent trek through a dangerous L.A.
Pratt has every right to be angry, of course. He and his father lost their homes in the Palisades fire. Residents across the city are furious about — take your pick — Mayor Karen Bass’ seeming ineffectiveness, homelessness, traffic and the rising cost of everything.
But Pratt isn’t just channeling a vibe. His campaign is built on an archetype Baum alluded to but didn’t name outright: The Angry L.A. White Guy.
The local political and media landscape has always made room for gringo men lashing out at a changing L.A. (Other examples: former LAPD Chief Daryl F. Gates, the late television commentator George Putnam, podcast titan Adam Carolla). Victimhood, real or not, is their fuel. And like an inferno, their tirades have the pesky habit of paying off in the form of election wins, legislative changes, boffo financial success or all of the above.
Pratt has embodied the Angry L.A. White Man brilliantly. He repeatedly calls Bass “Bassura” (“trash” in Spanish). One of his campaign ads was filmed outside Bass’ home and that of city councilmember and mayoral candidate Nithya Raman, contrasting them with the Airstream on his burned-out lot in the Palisades.
The Angry L.A. White Guy always needs a population to demonize, and for Pratt, that’s homeless people — he repeatedly refers to them as zombies.
His campaign has raised almost as much money as Raman’s has, and he’s starting to get national attention. But the former star of “The Hills” has campaigned mainly in the friendly confines of social media and softball interviews.
At tonight’s debate at the Skirball Cultural Center, hosted by NBC4 and Telemundo 52, Pratt will finally run into political reality.
It’s the first time he’ll face off against Bass and Raman, seasoned politicas who know how to fight — expect them to repeatedly highlight that he’s a Republican. He’ll have to offer actual answers on a myriad of issues besides fire recovery to sway undecided voters looking for more than just invectives.
This might be the day that the Pratt train is revealed to be all huff and no puff. But the Angry L.A. White Guy has lasted this long for a reason: he knows how to rage.