Reality TV star-turned LA mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt said in a Thursday interview that death threats for his reality TV antics made him realize he needed to become a Republican and support gun rights for self-defense.
Pratt, best known for his villainous on-screen persona on MTV’s “The Hills,” decided to run for office after his home was destroyed in the California wildfire. However, during an interview with CNN journalist Elex Michaelson, he shared how concern over his life from even before that made him become a Republican.
“Well, you want to break some news here?” he said after being asked why he sides with the GOP. “This is the only time I’ve ever said this, so this is breaking news. Everyone’s gonna freak out. When I was a hated reality star, I got so many death threats. I had so much security and police, and what did they tell me to do? ‘Get a gun.’ This is real.”
Pratt has noted before, such as on Joe Rogan’s podcast, that he was inspired to lean into playing the heel during his time in reality TV, knowing that having a villain makes for good entertainment.
“I know people don’t like guns, but LA was dangerous if you’re hated. So I got a gun. My wife got a gun, and then we needed CCWs,” he added further, referring to legal permits to carry a concealed weapon in California.
“The only people that supported a CCW was the Republican [Party],” the former reality TV star continued. “That was what I aligned with. My safety, my personal safety, my family’s safety. I know people don’t like guns, but when people are threatening your life and your own security is telling you, you need to have home protection, train to — it’s not like just I went to the — you know, go through the proper steps. That was my, that’s it.”
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Pratt acknowledged that naturally, this is a very hot-button issue, but he also vowed, “I’m also going to be the mayor that puts LAPD in front of every school to make schools safe from guns.”
The interviewer seemed skeptical, asking whether there are enough officers to do so.
“I talked to very knowledgeable law enforcement. All you have to do is pick one patrol unit for – and you give them a nice pin that connects to that school, and that’s their street,” Pratt replied. “So, they add that in. So that’s already part of mine, just because obviously I know people don’t like guns, and we need to make everything, especially school, safe, but that is where I connect to – and it’s once you feel fear, and it’s real, you want to protect your family.”
