← The Stephen A. Smith Show
The Stephen A. Smith Show
Interview Only: ET Host Kevin Frazier delivers a riveting report about the fire devastation in California.
00:26:33
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- [00:00]
Greg Rosenthal
What's up, everyone? It's Greg Rosenthal and I'm teaming up with the King of spring, Daniel Jeremiah. He requires me to say that we're going to be bringing you 40s and free agents, the only podcast you'll need this NFL draft season. From DJs, mock drafts to my top 101, free agents will have it covered for you with all new episodes every Thursday keeping you up to date as we head to the NFL Draft. Listen to 40s and free agents starting on March 6th on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [00:31]
Kevin Frazier
What's up, everyone? Julie Swerbinks here along with former NHL player Nate Thompson. We're doing a new podcast together. Here we go. The name Energy Line with Nate and jsb. Each week we'll get together and talk about hockey life. All topics are fair game, right? Exactly. And you'll never know who will drop by to join us. Julia's pretty well connected. She has text threads going that you wouldn't believe. Listen to Energyline with Nate and jsb on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [01:06]
Stephen A. Smith
Joining me now is a longtime LA resident and friend of the program, one of my best friends in the world. You see him daily as the host of Entertainment Tonight. Please welcome back to the show the one and only Kevin Frazier. First of all, Kevin Frazier, how are you? How are you and your family?
- [01:23]
Kevin Frazier
We are safe and we are sound, but there are so many families who are suffering. Stephen, I just came back from the fires and TV does not really show you the depths of the devastation. And this isn't something that's going to be solved in a year or three years. It looks like an atomic bomb went off in the Palisades area in Altadena. These places are destroyed and these are folks who will need help for 5, 7 years to come as they all try to rebuild.
- [01:56]
Stephen A. Smith
Crystallize for us the kind of damage that you've witnessed with your own two eyes and what people are saying to you about the damage they've witnessed.
- [02:06]
Kevin Frazier
Sure. What you see is literally standing in a neighborhood and you can see all the way across the neighborhood because every house is gone. And when I say every house is gone, the houses are ashes. They have burned to the ground. And imagine this, Steve. We arrive there and we are starting to shoot stand ups. And by the time we're done standups, two more houses have burned down. The fires were active. They were never under control while we were there. And so it is Devastating to see that. And then it's devastating to see people return to their home. Like your good friend Eric Braden. I can't put into words watching him, watching the tears roll down his face as he looked at his home of over 35, 40 years. It was ashes. And today. And I know you were going to his son's premiere, if it had. If it had happened here in la, but it's not now because of the fires. But he was pointing out the room where his son wrote most of his new movie.
- [03:12]
Stephen A. Smith
Yeah.
- [03:12]
Kevin Frazier
And it's just. Tears just flowed as he thought about all that had been built to give.
- [03:18]
Stephen A. Smith
To give a personal insight, you know, because I don't think a lot of people realize how close he and I are. We're very close to the point that you saw that the house had burnt, burnt down before he was notified. And you called me to get in touch with his son so his son can give him the information. So he didn't just go in there blind and all of a sudden see what he didn't think he would see, which is the house being burned down. And he was devastated, to say the least. And his son is flying back from London. It was flying back from London last night as we speak, But. Go ahead, Kev. Go ahead, Steve.
- [03:53]
Kevin Frazier
I was going to say that he didn't. You know, Eric's a tough old guy. He's been through everything, through World War II and the rebuilding of his homeland in Germany. He's been through cancer and so many other things. So I don't think he thought that. That it would hit him like it did. And he said to me, he said, now I understand. I understand what people are going through when they come to their house and everything is gone. Because he didn't take that much with him. He didn't think the fires were going to jump the canyon and come to his house. So everything is gone.
- [04:27]
Stephen A. Smith
What are people in Los Angeles saying now? Are they saying this is a natural disaster? Are they pointing the finger, as I am, at the politicians throughout the state of California? That's from Gavin Newsom on down to Mayor Karen Bass and others. It is an absolute travesty in the state, obviously in Los Angeles and the surrounding areas, Pacific Palisades, Malibu, etc. What are they saying about their elected officials at this particular moment in time? And be specific as to what they're saying and. And why they're saying it.
- [05:02]
Kevin Frazier
Okay. Number one, people are scared. They're terrified, because there has never been anything like this before. And what happened the first day Was basically a hurricane of fire. And no one can prepare for that. No one can be ready for that. And you understand. But in the days coming as more fires popped up and people began to question how. How are these fires just popping up? It can't just be natural. And as they've seen with the fire out in Calabasas, they believe it was arson. People are frustrated because the firefighters literally could not react fast enough to save homes. Literally. They. They would come to one house, it's on fire. They try to stop it. They can't. They've got to move on to the next house. And people are like, why weren't the city and even the state more prepared for this? Now, fingers were pointed immediately at Karen Bass. She was out of town. There was that interview where she was coming home with a sky. With a reporter from Sky News who was asking her some very pointed questions. There is no way Karen Bass could have done anything. And that's the video of the interview. There's no way she could have done anything about that hurricane that happened. Those hundred. That's fair an hour winds. There is nothing she could have done about that.
- [06:30]
Stephen A. Smith
She could have spoken better about it, though. She could have. She could have had some answers.
- [06:35]
Kevin Frazier
This is the one thing. People now need help. They don't know where they're going. They don't know where their kids are going to school. They don't know where they're going to live. There was already a housing shortage in Los Angeles. Where are these people going to go? The people in Altadena, in the other fire, Regular folks who don't have that celebrity money. Where are they going? Where are they going to go? They elected officials to help them take care of this situation. And I think that the concern is, is that there hasn't been a real direction laid of what is next. How can we help? I saw Gavin Newsom yesterday. I saw him. I ran. Ran into him and ran out and jumped out of the car to talk to him. And he said, I can't talk. I'm on the phone with the president. And I understand that, but they have to fix this situation. They have to take care of these people, the people who had the faith to vote you in. Now you must take care of your constituents.
- [07:37]
Stephen A. Smith
Well, Kev, here's my issue. You didn't elaborate extensively on firefighters saying there was no water. How do you not have enough water in the state of California? I'm wondering about that. And before we go further, I want to play. I want to show you this quote that was Put out by former president Donald Trump, soon to be president again come January 21st with his inauguration. But in 2019, he put this quote on x Twitter quote, the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, has done a terrible job of forest management. I told him from the first day we met that he must clean his forest floors regardless of what his bosses, the environmentalists demand of him. Must also do burns and cut fire stoppers. Every year as the fires rage and California burns, it is the same thing. And then he comes to the federal government for help, meaning dollars no more. Get your act together, Governor. You don't see close to the level of burn in other states. That was Donald Trump. That was in 2019. Kevin, I want to show you this quote because it's incredibly important. I wanted to know your thoughts. Governor Gavin Newsom refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water from excess rain and snow melt from the north to flow daily into many parts of California, including, okay, the areas that are currently burning. In a virtually apocalyptic way. He wanted to protect an essentially worthless fish called a smelt by giving it less water. It didn't work, but didn't care about the people of California. Now the ultimate price is being paid. I will demand that this incompetent governor allow beautiful, clean, fresh water to flow into California. He is to blame for this. On top of it all, no water for fire hydrants, not firefighting planes. A true disaster. And the only comeback that Gavin Newsom had on Anderson Cooper, on CNN with Anderson Cooper a couple of days ago was there are things that I want to say, but I can't. But it's a shame that he would politicize this. That's all the comeback that Gavin Newsom had. Go ahead, Kevin, the floor is yours.
- [10:00]
Kevin Frazier
Steve, let me say this, okay. There are some points that are valid about California being prepared for the fire season or for fires each and every year. I will say again, the fire that burned down Palisades was a once in a lifetime anomaly of 100 mile an hour winds and fire pushing it through a neighborhood. Now, that being said, once it starts and once it happens, you have to call in the calvary. It was one night basically where the entire Palisades burned down and they were gone. But there has to be a plan in place so that this doesn't happen again. We know we're in an area where these Santa Ana winds come through each and every year. And it was so heartbreaking to see the fires just jumping from house to house to House. And the next day, while the fires were still burning, firefighters were there from all over the state. They did come, and they came from all over the state, but it was too late. It was too late. People's houses were gone. The California economy is one of the biggest in the world.
- [11:11]
Stephen A. Smith
That's right.
- [11:12]
Kevin Frazier
If you put it up against other country, you could put it up against other countries, it would be ranked very highly. But the problem is, is that the little things are falling through the cracks. And this is one of those things that fell through the cracks and turned into Armageddon. And now the rebuild and what California is going to lose is what really worries me.
- [11:37]
Stephen A. Smith
Well, it should worry you. You got no money. I'm looking at this right here, Kevin. 17,000 acres have been burned. Okay, it's more than that now, Steve.
- [11:46]
Kevin Frazier
It's 20 acres. It's more than Manhattan. Manhattan.
- [11:50]
Stephen A. Smith
20 acres.
- [11:51]
Kevin Frazier
Imagine all of Manhattan burning.
- [11:52]
Stephen A. Smith
That's right. Number two, officials ordered 130,000 to evacuate. That number is probably larger now. Okay, it's much larger. It's much larger than that now. More than 420,000 people are estimated to be without power. That's roughly the population of Minneapolis, the largest city in Minnesota. One estimate puts damage and economic losses at anywhere from 52 to 57 billion. But that was yesterday. It could be more today.
- [12:18]
Kevin Frazier
It's over 60. It's over 60 billion. It's over $60 billion, Steven. Let's not get this twisted. This is a shit show. It is an incredible nightmare of epic proportions. And Eric Braden said it best when he said, this looks like Germany after world war ii. Wow. And now you have to rebuild in areas where some people don't even have insurance anymore. Where their fire insurance was taken away.
- [12:52]
Stephen A. Smith
And why was their fire insurance taken away? Why did the. Why did the insurance company take their fire insurance away?
- [12:58]
Kevin Frazier
Kevin, listen, this is more of. And. And let's understand something. Whether it's the. It's. It's the insurance industry as a whole. The insurance industry as a whole has been taking advantage of Americans for a long time. And they. They drop people's fire insurance. And by dropping their fire insurance, because they were like, oh, you're in Pacific Palisades. You're never going to burn, and we're going to drop your insurance. And people said, okay, well, we have to gamble. They gambled, and now look at. They're lost. These are multimillion dollar homes. And some of these homes are legacy homes with families that have kept them forever. And it's people's nest egg and how they're going to live their life. And now it's gone. So I say to Gavin Newsom, I say to Karen Bass, you now have to step up and you have to show leadership. Because I don't think. And I voted for Karen Bass. I was excited for her to be the mayor of Los Angeles. And now I wanna see her be the leader that we expect her to be. And being that leader means you are going to have to take care of some people who are in dire straits.
- [14:14]
Stephen A. Smith
You are a California resident, a homeowner? I have a place in California. I just rent it. I can get rid of it. It's on a month to month basis, to be specific. But let me throw this out at you, my brother. Fiscal year 2023, this is the state of California, collected a total of $220.59 billion US dollars in tax revenue, the highest of any state. You got 19 different states in America who shelled out in excess of $1 billion for the migrant crisis. California led the country with expenses of nearly 31 billion to take care of illegal immigrants and their children, according to the fair study. So I'm looking at that, I'm looking at the 159 million allocated to the state of California by FEMA. I'm looking at the 4 billion a year in funding California recently received to extend taxpayer funded health care to an additional 700,000 undocumented immigrants. Then I'm thinking about Donald Trump coming into office as the President elect and the things he remembers that Gavin Newsom said about him, the things he pointed out about the state that Gavin Newsom wouldn't listen to. And as a result, he's in this kind of quality quandary, this quagmire. What do you think is going to happen to the state of California based on those facts that I just gave you?
- [15:36]
Kevin Frazier
Well, Stephen, if all of those, if, if Donald Trump really imposes his immigration initiatives, if he starts to round up people, there's going to be no one here to really help to rebuild this city there because understand that the Latino population, because we are in Mexico, basically the Latino population fuels this city. And don't get it twisted. And so that's a problem. Now, the immigration status of people and fixing the immigration laws, that is something that needs to be worked on, but it needs to be worked on in a collective way. California is screwed right now. You're right, there's an imbalance and that's up to the governor and the mayor to fix it. One of the things that people expected from Karen Bass is to fix the homeless situation. It's a nightmare in la. And it is believed.
- [16:36]
Stephen A. Smith
And by the way, the homeless population is, according to statistics, is responsible for more than 50% of the fires in California.
- [16:45]
Kevin Frazier
And that is true. And that is true. And that is why we expected the mayor to start to fix that. And the same problems that you're having in San Francisco, you're having in Los Angeles, there is no doubt about it, but we expect them to fix them. That's why they're elected. And I think that now they are teetering on the edge of a recall. I would not be surprised if there was not a recall for Karen Bass.
- [17:11]
Stephen A. Smith
There's already been a recall for Gavin Newsom. He survived it. He survived. I think he's got a little more. A little less than two years left in office, of course, approximately 22, 21, 22 months to go for him. But you expect there to be a recall for Mayor Karen Bass after this?
- [17:29]
Kevin Frazier
I believe that there could be a recall. And I also think that, you know, this damages Gavin Newsom's presidential aspirations. Without question, they have. They have a chance to fix this. And I. And I was one of the people who believed that Gavin Newsom would make his. A fantastic Democratic nominee for the presidency. I think that he is smart, he is a great orator, he has compassion. He really does believe in his constituents. And the way he governs is the way I would want someone to govern.
- [18:05]
Stephen A. Smith
Kev.
- [18:05]
Kevin Frazier
But now you've gotta fix some things.
- [18:08]
Stephen A. Smith
You're my brother. You know I love you. And, you know, we talk a lot, we disagree. I think he's done after this. I think he's done. Kevin, you cannot. You cannot look at. This is a natural disaster. I get. But it was exacerbated by clear incompetence or dereliction of duty. One of the two. When you combine that with it being a homeless individual that has been accused of stoking this fire, when you consider.
- [18:39]
Kevin Frazier
Starting the fire in Calabasas, starting the fire in Calabar.
- [18:41]
Stephen A. Smith
Calabasas, when you consider the fact that it's a homeless issue that has now come to the forefront along with a migrant issue to some degree, because you're talking about money and funds and what's lacking and how that compromised what the firefighters could do, I don't know how you get over this, Kev. I don't.
- [19:03]
Kevin Frazier
Okay, well, hold on, Steve. Hold on, hold on. I think there's a couple of things to clarify. Number One is that LA City is one thing, LA county is another thing, LA county is where a lot of these fires have happened. Not in LA City, but LA County. And so that is outside of Mayor Karen Bass jurisdiction. She is LA City. So we give her that and we give her grace there. Also, we have to understand that the main fire that burned everything down was a once in a lifetime anomaly. That being said, and also I think we need to point out that the budget that was cut for the Fire Department was administrative jobs, but money was also moved around. They did not lose. They did not lose any firefighters. All that being said, the system is archaic. There wasn't enough water and there weren't enough firefighters on the ground. And it. And at one point, it was too dangerous for those firefighters to be there when everything really, really burned down. The winds were just too chaotic. Planes could not get up in the air. And that's why you saw it spread so quickly. But my big problem is when you are the mayor, come back with a plan, come back and reassure me, because you know what? You're the parent. Be the parent, be the adult in the room and show me that you have a plan and that we, your constituents, will be cared for. That's what I want to hear. I haven't heard that yet. I've heard a bunch of talk, but I haven't heard a plan. And I haven't heard saying that we're going. You know, in Hawaii, they opened up some of the resorts for the people that were affected by the fires there so that they had somewhere to go immediately because people were suffering. They needed a place to go. Where are you sending the people into?
- [20:54]
Stephen A. Smith
L. A?
- [20:55]
Kevin Frazier
You can't just send them to a random gym and.
- [20:57]
Stephen A. Smith
Let me.
- [20:57]
Kevin Frazier
You can't send them to a random.
- [20:58]
Stephen A. Smith
Let me stop you there. Let me stop you there, Kevin. Last question.
- [21:03]
Kevin Frazier
Yep.
- [21:03]
Stephen A. Smith
You have poor people. We know that as unfortunate as it is for those who are affluent that have suffered losing their homes in the fires, we know they have the means to cover themselves. Some we know they have the means to cover themselves. Poor people do not. Their homes have been burned. They've been. They've been displaced. And in a city like Los Angeles, in a state like California that's hemorrhaging money, they don't have much. And somehow, some way, all of this is true. When you've collected over nearly 221 billion in tax revenue, the highest of any state in this country. Kev, I don't even know what to say anymore about these elected officials in California. To me, the first order of business is how you Gonna find someplace. You just talked about the home shortage. All right, In California. Where the hell you gonna take these people? What are you gonna do?
- [22:03]
Kevin Frazier
But, Steve, that's what I'm talking about. That's leadership. That's when you are going to. Whether it's hotels and Airbnb right now is giving people free stays. But there are kids who are gonna be out of school. They've lost everything. They don't have a place to go. Where are you sending all these people? Where are they going to stay? And that's why I mentioned what happened in Hawaii and Lahaina. They literally took some of the resorts and said, we're moving people into these resorts.
- [22:28]
Stephen A. Smith
Got it.
- [22:29]
Kevin Frazier
And whether it's you start building, you know, whether you put people in mobile homes or whatever, you need to figure this out. And I need to hear a plan from leadership also. I just want to mention this because I think it's important to say, listen, in California, you pay a lot of taxes.
- [22:48]
Stephen A. Smith
Hell, yes.
- [22:48]
Kevin Frazier
And you know what? The people in Palisades, they paid a lot of damn taxes. That's gonna be very interesting to see how this plays out, because those people who have been paying that boatload of taxes, millions of dollars into the system, are now the neediest in the state.
- [23:08]
Stephen A. Smith
And by the way, they're the ones that put Gavin Newsom and people like Karen bass in office 100%.
- [23:16]
Kevin Frazier
That is a power source for the Democratic Party, that Palisades area where you can gather money.
- [23:23]
Stephen A. Smith
So now you realize you have Democrats who helped put them in office screaming about their level of incompetence and neglect and clamoring for Donald Trump to be back in office. You realize that, right?
- [23:34]
Kevin Frazier
I don't know if they're clamoring for Donald Trump to be back in office right now. Clamoring for help right now. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Because listen, Steve, Steve, Donald Trump is going to go and round up folks once he starts this immigration sweep. Who the hell's going to build the houses? Who's going to build the houses? Who's going to help with the construction? The people who are here that do the, the, the, the mountain share of the labor in this city.
- [23:59]
Stephen A. Smith
Are you ready for this?
- [24:00]
Kevin Frazier
Are Latino.
- [24:01]
Stephen A. Smith
Do you want my answer? Do you want my answer?
- [24:03]
Kevin Frazier
Sure, I want to hear your answer.
- [24:04]
Stephen A. Smith
He's going to back up off of all of that because it's going to make him look good that he utilized them to come to the rescue for the second largest state in the union in hopes that it will Turn it red from blue. He's gonna put. And if he pulls that off, the citizens of California gonna remember that, and they're gonna look at the Democratic leadership and say, we've given y'all enough money and enough time. That's what I think is going to happen. I'm not wishing for it. I don't care about. But it is politics right now. It is politics right now. That's why you clamoring for leadership. You ain't clamoring for leadership from the fire chief. You ain't clamoring for it for the head of the water department. You ain't clamoring for it for anybody else. You're looking at the politicians and you're saying, we need leadership from them. You're a California resident. Ain't that what you're looking for?
- [24:47]
Kevin Frazier
Yes. Yeah, listen. She got my vote, and she damn sure has my money. I live in the city. She has my money. Gavin has my money. So I feel like I have a right to call them out and say, what the hell are you going to do? And I need a plan. And that's why it bothered me yesterday when I got out of my car and I said, hey, Mr. Governor, can we talk to you for a second?
- [25:11]
Stephen A. Smith
And he said he could, too, on.
- [25:12]
Kevin Frazier
The phone with the president. I'm on the phone with the president. But that's. That's a line. He seemed to have told somebody else, and they were.
- [25:18]
Stephen A. Smith
And they were lying. When they asked. They said, I want to hear the call. I want. The woman said, I want to hear the call. I want to hear the call. And he says, I'm trying to get him on the phone right now. Well, you said you had him on the phone, and then you said, I'm trying to get him on the phone, Stephen.
- [25:29]
Kevin Frazier
I will wrap this up.
- [25:30]
Stephen A. Smith
Let's wrap this up. Go ahead.
- [25:32]
Kevin Frazier
Nothing will make me happier. Then Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass pulling it together and taking care of these people and writing the ship in Los Angeles and in the state of California, I hope. But if not, if not, then they gotta go.
- [25:51]
Stephen A. Smith
They gotta go. You know what? They gotta go. I don't give a damn if they do. After what I've seen last day, they gotta go. They gotta. I'm done. I'm done, Kevin. I'm done.
- [26:02]
Kevin Frazier
Steve, sometimes there are. Steve, sometimes there are natural disasters you can't do a damn thing about. When a hurricane hits your house down in south. In Florida, what can you do? Are you yelling at the politicians? Stand out there and stop the winds.
- [26:15]
Stephen A. Smith
Kev, I'm not going off about the fires. The fires is not their fault. But when firefighters are standing there saying there's not enough water in the fire hydrants, that's true. When Donald Trump asked for water to be pumped from Canada into the LA system and Gavin Newsom opposed that. When you're hearing about environmentalists compelling him to protect smelt and little fish and salmon at the expense of LA citizens, of California. Citizens, Kevin. I don't need much else than that. I just don't. Maybe you're nicer than me. Maybe I'm too cruel. I'm sick of it. I'm sick of it.
- [26:52]
Kevin Frazier
If you walk down any street in the Palisades right now, you'd see that it is. I understand being sick of it. If that was my house, I'd be sleeping at theirs.
- [27:05]
Stephen A. Smith
Well, Eric's house is gone. That's my buddy. I'll be there to see him this week. My heart's broken for him.
- [27:12]
Kevin Frazier
He will love to see him. He will love to see you because his heart is broken right now.
- [27:16]
Stephen A. Smith
Kev. Love you, bro. Appreciate you, my man. Be safe. Be safe. Cause I know you're out there reporting on this stuff, inhaling all that hair. Hey, I hope you wearing a mask and covering yourself with some degree, okay? Don't get sick on me, Steve.
- [27:27]
Kevin Frazier
I'm taking care of myself. Love you.
- [27:36]
Greg Rosenthal
What's up, everyone? It's Greg Rosenthal, and I'm teaming up with the King of Spring, Daniel Jeremiah. He requires me to say that we're going to be bringing you 40s and free agents, the only podcast you'll need this NFL draft season. From DJs mock drafts to my top 101, free agents will have it covered for you with all new episodes every Thursday, keeping you up to date as we head to the NFL Draft. Listen to 40s and free agents starting on March 6th on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
- [28:07]
Kevin Frazier
What's up, everyone? Julie Swerbinks here along with former NHL player Nate Thompson. We're doing a new podcast together. Here we go. The name Energy Line with Nate and jsb. Each week we'll get together and talk about hockey life. All topics are fair game, right? Exactly. And you'll never know who will drop by to join us. Julie is pretty well connected. She has text threads going that you wouldn't believe. Listen to Energy Line with Nate and jsb on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.