Spencer Pratt responds to claims he's been staying in luxury hotel during LA mayoral campaign
Former reality TV star turned Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt has responded to claims that he's been living in a luxury hotel and not a trailer, as he previously said in one of his campaign ads.
Last year, Pratt lost his home during the deadly Palisades Fire that decimated entire communities in the Pacific Palisades. In one of his campaign ads, Pratt claimed that he had been living in a trailer on his burned-down lot. In the video, Pratt tapped into Angelenos' frustration over the city's housing crisis while also calling out LA Mayor Karen Bass and mayoral candidate Nithya Raman for living in mansions.
In an interview with TMZ, Pratt was questioned about his recent stays at the luxury Hotel Bel-Air. Pratt said he's only stayed there a few times recently, in part due to receiving death threats.
When asked if he's living in the trailer, Pratt said he has no home. He also added that criticisms about his temporary lodging are exercises in semantics.
In an exclusive interview with CBS News last week at his trailer on his Pacific Palisades lot, Pratt said: "As mayor, I want to live here."
Zev Yaroslavsky, the director of the LA Initiative at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, says Pratt's post-fire living arrangements are not an issue, legally.
"If somebody is working with their insurance company to get reimbursed for the rebuild of their house and they're planning to come back and live at their house, they're entitled to vote in that district, and they're allowed to run for office," Yaroslavsky said.
Most fire survivors have also been living out of hotels and staying with friends and family in other cities while they try to rebuild their damaged homes.
"We were displaced in Manhattan Beach for a year because my cousins live there," said Born Williams, a Palisades Fire survivor.
The LA County Registrar's Office says for candidates who have temporarily been displaced, like during the 2025 wildfires, their eligibility to run for office is not impacted. Temporary displacement also doesn't affect residents' ability to vote in their same district.
