Spencer Pratt reveals how threats, intimidation drove him to the GOP as his LA mayoral campaign ads take over the internet

Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt has revealed the reason behind his becoming a Republican in the deep blue area of California. He made the comments as he has been praised for viral political ads, many of them being crafted with AI.

Pratt, a former reality TV star, said that during his career, his fame resulted in backlash that led him to become worried about the safety of his family. “When I was a hated reality star, I got so many death threats,” Pratt said to CNN's Elex Michaelson. “I had so much security and police, and what did they tell me to do? Get a gun.”

Pratt added that LA is “dangerous if you’re hated,” which led to his wife getting them firearms. Pratt had sought a CCW or a concealed carry permit, which was a policy position only held by Republicans at the time. “The only people that supported a CCW was a Republican,” he added.

Although he is registered as a Republican, Pratt is running for mayor of LA as an independent. He noted that he had to complete firearm safety training before he was able to obtain his permit.

The revelations come as Pratt, entering as a political outsider in the race, has been making waves online with political ads, both from his own campaign as well as social media users. In one release from a supporter, a group of men in an AI video says “they aren’t MAGA or anything” and then proceed to point out everything they see as wrong with LA.

"I’m not MAGA or anything, but the city has kinda gone to sh*t though, right?” one of the AI men in the video said as they are discussing who they will vote for in the election. Another says that his daughter stepped on a needle at the playground, and yet another compares downtown LA to “The Walking Dead.”

A parody of Fresh Prince of Bel Air, a social media user-created Star Wars parody, which was reposted by Pratt, as well as AI videos are just a few of the other political advertisements that have been released in LA mayoral candidate's campaign over the last several weeks. Many of the ads of Pratt attacking LA Mayor Karen Bass and other city officials have gone viral with millions of views on social media.

Pratt released an ad in which he covered the Fresh Prince of Bel Air theme song, telling how his life "got flipped, turned upside down" with his house burning down in the Palisades fires. The video posted on Monday has surpassed 4.3 million views on X.

The ads have focused on the disrepair of LA, crime, and the city’s mismanagement of the Palisades fires. The spoof of the Fresh Prince of Bel Air came as a response to a TMZ report that said Pratt has been living in the ritzy Hotel Bel-Air instead of in a trailer on his burned-down property. "I don't live at the hotel Bel Air. I don't live in the Airstream. I don't live in Santa Barbara. I don't have a house. They burned it down," he told the outlet in response to the reporting.