Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass just got served — and the process server might as well be sitting across from her at Thanksgiving dinner, because one of the plaintiffs suing her city into oblivion is her own 78-year-old brother Kenneth Bass, whose Malibu home was a "total burn down" thanks to what the lawsuit calls reckless negligence by the city she runs.
You truly cannot make this up. Your own flesh and blood is so disgusted with your incompetence that he lawyers up and joins forces with reality TV star Spencer Pratt to drag you into court. Happy holidays, Karen.
Kenneth Bass and his wife Cindy filed onto a class-action lawsuit originally brought on May 18, 2026, against the City of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power over the catastrophic Palisades Fire that ignited on January 7, 2025. The blaze killed 12 people and obliterated thousands of properties — including Kenneth's home, where he and Cindy suffered smoke inhalation and emotional distress. The lawsuit also names the State of California, the California Department of Parks and Recreation, Southern California Edison, and 18 defendants total.
Pratt — the 42-year-old former star of "The Hills" who lost his own Pacific Palisades home in the fire — announced the team-up on social media with the kind of savage glee we can all appreciate.
"I am proud to be teaming up with Karen Bass' brother in suing his sister for her reckless negligence that led to the destruction of our homes," Pratt wrote. Then he twisted the knife: "I hope their Thanksgiving dinner isn't too awks."
Beautiful.
Pratt didn't stop there. He accused the LADWP of making "the conscious decision to operate the water supply system with the reservoir drained and unusable as a 'cost-saving' measure" — a detail that should make every Angeleno's blood boil. The city literally drained its reservoirs to save a few bucks, and then couldn't fight the fire that burned neighborhoods to the ground. Meanwhile, Bass had already slashed $17 million from the LAFD budget before the fires even started.
Let that sink in. She cut the fire department's budget by $17 million, the water system was running on empty, and when the Palisades ignited, thousands of families paid the price. Her own brother's family included.
Bass's office tried to wave it all away with the most bureaucratic non-response imaginable, telling Fox News, "There's nothing new here — Mayor Bass has spoken of her brother's loss publicly since January of 2025." They also noted that "thousands of people are plaintiffs in this action, which names 18 public and private sector defendants" — as if the fact that thousands of people are suing you is somehow a defense.
Pratt, who just finished third in the LA mayoral race behind Bass and City Councilwoman Nithya Raman, made clear this isn't about politics for him anymore. "I didn't get in this for political power. I got in to expose this corrupt machine," he said. He also vowed, "I'm going to win the lawsuit against Gavin Newsom's state park and the LADWP."
As reported by the New York Post, Pratt has no plans to rebuild as long as Bass or Raman remain in power. "If Karen Bass gets re-elected or Nithya gets elected, I will be done with trying to live in LA," he said. "I'll take that money from the Newsom state park and the LADWP, and I'll go somewhere that my kids will not have to see naked zombies."
Naked zombies. The man is describing the current state of Los Angeles, and honestly, it tracks.
Here's the thing — when your own brother would rather team up with a reality TV star and sue your city than call you for help, that tells you everything about your leadership. Karen Bass cut the fire budget, let the reservoirs run dry, and only managed to approve 5 rebuild permits months after the fire while the Trump administration had to step in with an executive order in February 2026 to actually get things moving.
Spencer Pratt may have lost the mayoral race, but he just won something better — the single most embarrassing headline of Karen Bass's career. And that's saying something, because the competition for that title is fierce.