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Talk show host Jimmy Kimmel mocked Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt on Wednesday night’s show, and the former reality TV star responded by bringing up one of Kimmel’s most embarrassing controversies.
Pratt is one of the contenders attempting to replace incumbent Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. Pratt, 42, has been a vocal champion for LA residents since losing his home during the deadly 2025 Palisades wildfire. He launched his mayoral campaign in January with a focus on ousting Bass due to her alleged mishandling of the LA fires.
“It could take a while for Democrats here in Los Angeles to figure out which of their friends secretly voted for Spencer Pratt,” Kimmel quipped, riffing on California taking a long time to tally votes in recent elections. “Barring a late ballot buzzer-beater, it appears Mayor Karen Bass will advance to a runoff against the former reality show villain.”
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“Sixty percent of the vote has been counted. If that holds, it means in November Los Angelenos are going to have to choose between a woman named Karen and a man who is one,” he said, referencing the “Karen” slur for a demanding, middle-class White woman.
“Spencer Pratt should not be a top-two finalist for mayor. He should be DJing the worst New Year’s Eve party in Reno right now,” Kimmel said. “He’s unlikely to win. In fact, he’s already filming a reality show about his run for mayor, so he definitely has his priorities in order.”
In response, Pratt replied by sharing an image of Kimmel’s now-infamous moment when the talk show host wore blackface during “The Man Show” in the early 2000s, most notably while impersonating former NBA star Karl Malone.
Kimmel has apologized for this skit in recent years, saying he intended for it to be just another celebrity impression.
“We hired makeup artists to make me look as much like Karl Malone as possible. I never considered that this might be seen as anything other than an imitation of a fellow human being, one that had no more to do with Karl’s skin color than it did his bulging muscles and bald head,” he said in a past statement to Fox News.
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He added further, “I’ve done dozens of impressions of famous people, including Snoop Dogg, Oprah, Eminem, Dick Vitale, Rosie and many others. In each case, I thought of them as impersonations of celebrities and nothing more. Looking back, many of these sketches are embarrassing, and it is frustrating that these thoughtless moments have become a weapon used by some to diminish my criticisms of social and other injustices.”
“I won’t be bullied into silence by those who feign outrage to advance their oppressive and genuinely racist agendas,” Kimmel vowed, later adding, “Thank you for giving me an opportunity to explain and to those I’ve disappointed, I am sorry.”
Fox News’ Joseph Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
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