Khloe Kardashian is facing backlash after going after Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass – calling her ‘a joke’ – in a social media post criticizing her for alleged cuts to the Los Angeles Fire Department budget in the wake of the massive wildfires.
The reality star, 40, uploaded a short video to her Instagram Stories on Friday from a snippet of a Fox 11 LA segment.
During an interview, LAFD Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said the mayor’s budget cuts for the department impacted the fire fight throughout Southern California, telling the station, ‘My message is the fire department needs to be properly funded – it’s not.’
In a caption on a clip of the interview, Khloe, who is a resident of the city of Calabasas, California, wrote, ‘I stand with YOU Chief Crowley!!!! You spoke the truth and you had tears in your eyes because I can tell you didn’t want to say that but it was THE TRUTH!!!! Mayor Bass you are a joke!!!!’
However social media users were quick to remind the Good American founder of multiple reports documenting that her sisters Kim and Kourtney, 45, had ignored local water-conserving mandates amid an ongoing drought in the area.
One user said, ‘Instead of Khloe Kardashian talking bulls*** about Mayor Karen Bass, people should be talking about how … her sister used an excess of over 300,000 gallons of water in just one month during a drought. How about the water waster just STFU.’
Khloe Kardashian, 40, is facing backlash after going after Los Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, 71 – calling her ‘a joke’ – in a social media post criticizing her for alleged cuts to the Los Angeles Fire Department budget in the wake of the massive wildfires
The reality star uploaded a short video to her Instagram Stories on Friday from a snippet of a Fox 11 LA segment taking aim at Bass
Another told Khloe, who is the youngest of the three Kardashian sisters, ‘Have this same energy for your family boo boo.’
The commenter wrote referring to an incident in June 2022, in which Kim was found to have used 232,000 excess gallons of water during a drought, adding ‘How about the water waster just STFU.’
The Kardashians have since installed water saving equipment on their properties.
‘The Kardashians hired a private fire department to make sure their properties wouldn’t burn during the last fire, must be nice,’ they said.
The Atlantic contributor Jemele Hill responded to post about Kardashian on The Shade Room Instagram page, giving a detailed explanation regarding the alleged budget cuts, writing ‘the city of LA was in the process of negotiating with the fire department re: salaries and the end result was a $50M increase for them. So in the end, no they weren’t shorted,’ adding that ‘KK’s comments are ill-informed.’
Others stated their belief the reality star’s criticism was due to a different reason. ‘It’s amazing how outspoken everyone is when it’s a Black woman at the helm…’ said one person.
‘Bc fold love to tear a blk woman down as soon as the time seems appropriate/acceptable,’ stated another.
Said another user: ‘Khloe Kardashian is way too comfortable publicly calling out Black women and I don’t like that at all.’
One critic wrote about Khloe and her family hiring firefighters to protect their homes in a previous blaze
Multiple users were unease with Khloe’s attacks on Bass, who is Black
The Atlantic’s Jemele Hill gave a detailed explanation, writing ‘the city of LA was in the process of negotiating with the fire department re: salaries and the end result was a $50M increase for them. So in the end, no they weren’t shorted’ and called Khloe’s comments ‘ill-informed’
Another user said, ‘Right I never see her call out yt women,’ while another said, ‘She’s calling out someone that don’t even have anything to do with the Palisades fires and all those other municipalities lol it rubbed me the wrong way how she was talking about her.’
Said one user, referring to Khloe’s past: ‘What’s new? No one questioned her when she called out poor [Jordyn] Woods that should’ve been when we stopped fooling with them.
‘I hate them. They’re not positive role models, and they’re negative for the black community.’
Not all people were upset with Khloe for her remarks as the Los Angeles native – who is mother to daughter True, six, and son Tatum, two, with her ex-boyfriend, Cleveland Cavaliers center Tristan Thompson, 33 – had multiple people coming to her defense both personally and in connection with the topics at hand.
‘She has Black children,’ one user said of Khloe. ‘This is a disgusting comment – Mayor deserves to be called out, as well as the white male governor.’
Another said in Khloe’s defense, ‘She was calling out a public official that was not doing her job well, had cut budgets which put public safety at risk and then refused to answer questions by the press and public the first 3 days of a crisis.
‘Mayors, Governors, even the President work for the public and we have ever right, in fact it’s our duty to criticize, judge when they are not serving the public well.
Not all people were upset with Khloe for her remarks as the Los Angeles native had multiple people coming to her defense both personally and in connection with the topics at hand
Khloe doubled down on her support for firefighters in a lengthy post in her Instagram Stories on Sunday morning
A fire fighting helicopter dropped water as the Palisades Fire grew near Encino on Saturday
One user said Bass was ‘grossly incompetent and complicit in the deaths of numerous people and loss of thousands of homes and businesses.’
Another noted that Los Angeles natives need ‘to wake up’ to the shortcomings of Democratic leadership.
‘Khloe Kardashian who barely speaks out about politics or anything controversial has called Bass a joke (rightfully so),’ one user said. ‘Kim even endorsed Rick Caruso for mayor when he ran over Karen Bass. What will it take for LA libs to wake up?! There’s a shift happening!’
Another user cited Khloe’s timing and targeting with the politically-charged post, writing, ‘It’s interesting how Khloe Elon Musk Kardashian has been very quick to call Mayor Karen Bass “A JOKE” but had no smoke for Trump, JD Vance or Elon during this past election.’
Khloe doubled down on her support for firefighters in a lengthy post in her Instagram Stories on Sunday morning.
‘Dear Firefighters, Volunteers, First Responders, Police Officer and Chief of the Fire Department,’ she began. ‘I want to take a moment to express my deepest gratitude and admiration for all of you who have been working tirelessly over the past few days to combat the fires in California.
‘Your courage, dedication, and selflessness in the face of such immense danger are truly inspiring. Please know that your efforts do not go unnoticed, and we are forever grateful for everything you are doing.’
She closed the missive saying, ‘You are all true heroes and we are all incredibly fortunate to have you by our side.