When I said Hollywood had lost its way, I didn’t expect them to prove it quite so literally.
Spencer Pratt is running for mayor of Los Angeles. I had to read that sentence three times, and I still poured myself a second glass of Chardonnay before I could process it. The man from The Hills—a show I absolutely never watched, except for research purposes, and that one summer when I had a lot of free time—now wants to lead America’s second-largest city. The Spencer Pratt mayor campaign is real, and I am not okay.
Here’s what the mainstream entertainment press won’t tell you: this is the logical endpoint of everything Hollywood has become. They spent decades telling us that authenticity doesn’t matter, that fame is its own qualification, that anyone with enough followers deserves a platform. Well, congratulations. You got Spencer Pratt standing in front of cameras declaring “This is not just a campaign. This is a mission.”
The Mission, Apparently
I watched the announcement video. The whole thing. I took notes. My therapist says this level of engagement with content that upsets me is “counterproductive,” but Dr. Winters doesn’t understand that someone has to monitor the decline of standards in this country.
Spencer is positioning himself as the anti-establishment candidate, which is rich coming from someone whose entire career exists because of establishment media platforms. He mentioned the Palisades fire. He mentioned his house. He mentioned “exposing the system.” What system? The one that made him famous for doing nothing in the first place?
I remember when politicians had experience. Governing experience. Not “experience being married to Heidi Montag” experience. I’m not being elitist—I’m being accurate. There’s a difference. My husband says I always think there’s a difference. He’s usually wrong.
What This Says About Us
The truly disturbing part isn’t that Spencer Pratt is running. It’s that I know people who will vote for him. Not ironically. Actually vote. With their actual votes. I had lunch with Carolyn from the tennis club last week, and she said—and I quote—“At least he’s honest about being famous for nothing.”
That’s not a qualification, Carolyn. That’s a confession.
But this is where we are. This is the culture that Hollywood created and now can’t escape. They elevated reality television, they blurred the line between celebrity and competence, and now they’re shocked—shocked!—that the crystals they sold us are coming back to haunt them. I’ve been warning about Hollywood’s trajectory for years. Nobody listened. They never do.
The Glamour Standard
I want to be clear: I don’t hate Spencer Pratt. I don’t know Spencer Pratt. I’m simply pointing out that a city of four million people probably deserves leadership from someone who has done literally anything besides appear on camera. Is that controversial now? Apparently.
My daughter asked me why I was so upset about “some guy from an old show.” I told her that when I was her age, mayors had backgrounds in law or business or public service. She said “Okay, boomer” even though I am technically Generation X, and then she went back to her phone. This is what I’m dealing with.
Los Angeles will get exactly what it deserves. Maybe that’s Spencer Pratt. Maybe it’s someone worse. Either way, I’ll be here, on my couch, with my wine, watching it all unfold. Someone has to bear witness to the decline. It might as well be me.
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