Khloé Kardashian has received some backlash from social media after publicly criticizing Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass during the ongoing Los Angeles County wildfires that began on Tuesday, Jan. 7.
As the wildfires spread throughout areas around Los Angeles, many took to social media to express their devastation, anger, and confusion about the situation.
Kardashian followed suit by sharing an Instagram Story featuring a clip of an interview with Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley.
In the clip, Chief Crowley revealed that the fire department had been subject to substantial budget cuts and that she had previously sent a memo to the mayor’s office warning them that the cuts could lead to limited response.
Kardashian shared the clip, adding her emotional hot takes.
“I stand by YOU Chief Crowley!!!!” she wrote. “You spoke the truth and you had tears in your eyes because I can tell you didn’t even want to say that but it was THE TRUTH!!!!”
The reality star went on to thank the chief for being honest but scolded the mayor in return.
“Mayor Bass you are a joke!!!!” she added.
While no one disputes that the response to the catastrophic event was less than favorable, many couldn’t help but criticize Kardashian’s misguided outrage.
Since the story disappeared after 24 hours, social media users expressed their outrage on several of Kardashian’s other pictures.
“Calling for the mayor to resign when you and your family have consistently ignored water restrictions and are some of the biggest contributors to the conditions in LA that caused the fires in the first place – we should have left yall back in 2018 when you still mattered SMH,” said one Instagram user.
The account for Council member Jessie Lopez provided some hard numbers behind Kardashian being loud and wrong. “In 2022, Khloe used roughly 101,000 gallons of water over the allotted limit during a drought. Her sister Kim Kardashian used 232,000 gallons over the limit. IN ONE MONTH ALONE. I wonder how much she’s gone over the limit in the past year?”
This follower pointed out Kardashian wasn’t putting much action behind her words. “Where are YOUR donations, kadarshians??? You have trillions. Where is your help for the community? With all the money you have, not one post nor story about how to help or where you helped.”
Several followers called out KoKo for “spreading misinformation” about the severity of the alleged budget cuts, which were actually found to have increased by a little over $50 million in November 2024, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Even California Governor Gavin Newsom has taken to social media to correct the misinformation. “The TRUTH: – CA did NOT cut our firefighting budget. We have nearly doubled the size of our firefighting army and built the world’s largest aerial firefighting fleet. – CA has INCREASED forest management ten-fold since we took office. – California will NOT allow for looting. Get the facts: http://californiafirefacts.com,” Newsom tweeted on Jan. 11.
“Well well well. Would you look at that. The fire chief is now back tracking her false claims of a budget cut. Infact the department is ontrack of spending 72 million on top of the 95 million o yop of their 800 million dollar yearly budget. There wasn’t a 17 million dollar cut. You should be in jail for spreading this propaganda. At the very least you should apologize to the mayor for spreading those lies that are now debunked,” said one well-informed Instagram user.
Then, some followers found it interesting how Kardashian felt so comfortable pointing the finger and spewing her skewed views against Mayor Bass, a Black woman.
“Khloe, mayor bass is a strong black woman and she is smart & compassionate. How dare you call her a joke! You know who pressed and HOUNDED her to make budget cuts – republicans!!! And you call her a “joke” and blame her for this crisis? And then ask middle class people to donate? How about you go do something first!” said this commenter.
Another person pointed out this important fact, “So now you have something to say when it’s a black woman but you and your family were mute when it came to Trump. How many lives do you think he’s about to destroy?? 🤬”
This user racked up over 2,000 likes with this comment. “Typical Kardashians always so tone deaf. I’m guessing your fetish for black men ends when a black woman is involved right ??. You were quiet during the election now you want to blame a black woman when you know LA’s water supply is owned by the resnicks which I’m sure are your besties. Embarrassing af”
“Bc folk love to tear a blk woman down as soon as the time seems appropriate/acceptable,” said one disappointed follower. And the sentiment was echoed by this person, “Always attacking black women, but silent during the racist elections.”
Another added, “You can spread misinformation about a black woman but won’t call out the resnicks.”
Since the resounding response, Kardashian has since stuck to sharing posts about resources for locals and “thanking” first responders, volunteers, frontline workers, and firefighters for putting their lives on the line fighting the fires.
