← Straight Shooter with Stephen A.
Straight Shooter with Stephen A.
Interview Only: The Hills' Spencer Pratt slammed by critics when Heidi cried on GMA about losing their home to fire.
00:22:46
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- [00:00]
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- [00:30]
Spencer Pratt
Gives me the coverage I need like 24. Seven claims, I'm on cloud nine.
- [00:36]
Geico Voiceover
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- [00:38]
Stephen A. Smith
What's happening?
- [00:39]
Geico Voiceover
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Spencer Pratt
Ew.
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Geico Voiceover
Geico assumes no liability for any indigestion that may occur from a clover cricket dinner. Geico expertise for your motorcyc.
- [01:02]
Stephen A. Smith
I want to address an important story that will affect at least 170 million Americans who use TikTok. Earlier today, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld a law that would effectively ban the social media platform in the United States this coming Sunday. The court rejected an appeal from the app's owners that claimed the ban violated the First Amendment. In its opinion, the Supreme Court acknowledged that for 170 million Americans, TikTok offers, quote, a distinctive and expansive outlet for expression, means of engagement and source of community, end quote. But the court said Congress was focused on national security concerns and that was a deciding factor in how it weighed the case. They said, quote, congress has determined that divestiture is necessary to address its well supported national security concerns regarding TikTok's data collection practices in relationship with a foreign adversary, end quote. The foreign adversary would be China. So what happens next? The focus now shifts to President Elect Donald Trump, who can intervene after he takes office on Monday. Speaking to CNN after the ruling, Trump said, quote, it ultimately goes up, goes up to me. So you're going to see what I'm going to do, end quote. Trump also acknowledged that he spoke to Chinese President Xi Jinping earlier today. Again, roughly 170 million Americans and more than 1 billion people worldwide use Tik Tok, according to the company. I'm torn, but let me be very clear. I'm Only torn because of the moment that we're living in. We're about to have on a guest who, along with his wife, is making some money, money they desperately need because they lost their home in the fires and Palisades. Their parents lost their home as well. And a guy's name is Spencer Pratt, and he's about to come on here in a few minutes to talk to us about what he lost, how he lost what he was able to retain or to save and conserve, and what he ultimately had to forfeit because the fires wouldn't allow otherwise. He encouraged people to go and listen to her music and what have you. Apparently, people have been doing that and they've been using that as, you know, music on TikTok and stuff like that, and it's gone viral. And as a result, they're generating some revenue off of that. And there's no crime in that. When you see something like that, you make money any way you can, legally, any way you can, in such desperate times. They're not robbing anybody, they're not killing anybody. They're not doing anything. So as far as I'm concerned, hell, YouTube. Why we got a show on YouTube. Why does everybody got a podcast and it's running on video and YouTube and other platforms? Because you're going to generate revenue for it. So I get that part. But national security is national security. And if Congress has a concern about that, maybe the appropriate decision would be to delay it for about a few months or so, as one Democratic representative is suggesting. Maybe that's something that you do. I don't know. I'm just reading from an article here on the Verge. I believe it says the Supreme Court couldn't have been more direct. The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Control Applications act, as applied to TikTok, withstands First Amendment scrutiny and can take effect on January 19. The court agreed that the government had a compelling national security interest in passing the law and that its rationale was content neutral. The solution proposed forcing Chinese parent company ByteDance b y t e ByteDance to divest TikTok or see it ousted from the US was ruled appropriately tailored to meet those needs. So essentially, here's the deal. Somebody out there needs to be able to purchase this from Bite Dance. So it's no longer under Chinese authority, because evidently we've got an issue with the Chinese government using TikTok to influence so many American citizens, especially the youth amongst us. Now, I do know that TikTok is banned in places like Iran, Afghanistan, Somalia, places like that. Why is it Banned there, but not here. Who else is thinking about banning TikTok? What's their rationale behind it? Evidently, the Chinese government has figured out a way to utilize TikTok not only to spy on American citizens, but also to influence the youth amongst us. And it's so. It's so alarming that the United States government has considered it a national security concern. I say those security concerns, usurpation, our preferences. I got my daughters crying about tick tock, talking about, it's not fair. I don't like it. It's not right, Daddy. I'm like, wait a minute, I happen to believe you on TikTok too damn much myself. And what the hell are you looking at on there? And why do you believe that that's the best source of news that you can find? Because we can't stop everything. You could take their phones away. They got an iPad or a laptop to use it. Then they use other people's phone. They exchange messages. They're reading the news. They're acting like it's the. It's the modern day ABC News or something. That's how these kids feel about TikTok. So I don't blame the government for feeling this way, but national security is national security. I don't blame the government for being concerned. But to sort of meet your middle ground, maybe Trump comes in and you delay this decision from being made for a few months until folks get their bearings under them. Maybe that's what you do. Anyway. To my next guest, the former star of the hit MTV reality show the Hills. He and his wife, Heidi Montag, recently lost their home in the Palisades fire. Please welcome to the show, Mr. Spencer Pratt. Spencer, how are you? How you feeling? How you feeling these days? I know there's a lot going on. Put in the words, how you feeling, man?
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Spencer Pratt
I just been on a highs and lows, an emotional roller coaster. So thankfully, a lot of positive things are happening us now that I can stay focused on. So I don't, you know, I try not to call my mom because, you know, she lost her house also. So, you know, if I call my mom, you know, then we go sideways. And so I try to just stay on the. Stay in the light because a lot of. A lot of sad things going on, you know, but I'm looking at the positives.
- [07:34]
Stephen A. Smith
Take me back to the evening of January 7th. When did you realize you were going to have to evacuate? The fires were coming and you were going to have to evacuate.
- [07:43]
Spencer Pratt
So the night before, I looked out the wind, our sun at like 104 degree temperature. So we're up real late at night. And the winds out the. It looked like out of that Twisters movie. I never seen anything like it. And my. I just got hit with the worst feeling. I was like, if there was a fire, we're in big trouble. I never had a feeling like that. So then in the morning, you know, everything's going normal. And our. Our nanny that was helping that day, she went to take our child up on our hiking trail. And she runs down and she said, the construction workers just said, there's a fire and you need to get out of here. And respectfully, to her, you know, I've lived there in palaces my whole life. I know there's little fires pop up and they hit it with the plane. So I said, let me go check it out, see how you know what we're talking about. So I hiked up the trail where we always hang out, and I see a few ridges over, you know, some smoke. But it's. It's not like I haven't seen flames yet. And I'm thinking, okay, I call my wife, and she's. I said, you know, maybe pack some stuff up. You know, I think we're good. When these planes hit this, we're gonna be good. I think we can calm down. So the next thing you know, the two yellow planes just start hitting it like out of an action movie. I mean, we're talking as close as you could get to the ground, maybe. I got videos of. It was the coolest thing I'd seen before when it was a positive. And they're going and getting out of the ocean, and they're coming back. And I said, oh, we're good. They got this under control. But then I see from my vantage point that it creeped down from this one ridge, and I see it start heading towards, like, you know, it's far away still. So I'm thinking, okay, the fire truck goes on that street and stops it on that house. We're still good. So I'm watching it creep down from this hill, and it hits the first house. And this is the first time I've ever seen a house catch on fire. And, you know, I'm seeing people riding by. You know, this is far away, but I'm. You know, I'm seeing it, and I've seen people riding by on bikes. I'm like, okay, they must know, you know, the firemen are coming. It must not look that bad, because it doesn't look like everyone's freaking out. And driving away. So that house I see way down the way catches on fire. And now a little while later, the planes kind of, you know, they were hitting it for a good long time. So I don't want to like be like they just bounce right away. But now the planes leave, the planes are gone. And now I'm starting to see the flames come. And now I call my wife. I'm like, oh, this is not looking good, you know, unless a fire truck gets here on our street. Because thankfully I always had such confidence because we did have one of those water reservoirs. And these guys came and I saw them turning it on and water was coming out of the top. And I said, is that for those helicopters that dip the thing in? He's like, yeah, yeah. I'm like, when they come in here, like we don't know. So I was still like, oh, they got the water here. The helicopter is going to come and they're going to drop it on it. We're going to be good. That didn't happen. No fire truck came. So I called 911 and they connected me to the fire department. The fire department was like, I'm sorry, we don't have the assets. There's no fire truck coming. So I said my wife, you better pack anything you ever want to keep. And so that's when I knew was getting real. So she loaded up fast and she left to go to my parents house which is so far from our house in the like, you know, when I say so far in the Palisades, the idea of that not being a safe place, like go to my parents house, you'll be safe. Because you could never comprehend up on our top hill. Like where the top of the Palisades, you know, where it makes sense that a fire could hit. But my parents live, it's like down by the ocean side of the Palisades. So like my parents house 125 years old. And I said to my dad when I found out he had no insurance, I'm like, you don't have insurance? He said, the house at 125 years old, I knew if it ever burned down, it would mean the whole town would have to burn down. And unfortunately, horribly, that's what happened. So Heidi goes with the kids to my parents house with all our belongings and my older sister, because we're not watching the news because the kid was sick, our son was sick with 104 degrees or watching Blue Ear, Curious George, whatever I keep calling him, like put on the news like what's going on she's like, I can't. You know, when a kid's only, you know, it is what it is. We probably should have looked on the news but I guess what we weren't aware of, we're like the last people still in the Palisades. Everybody had already evacuated and got stuck on the streets on Sunset with the fire hitting them and people are running down the street and they had to. So in the positive out of that is we didn't get stuck in that where everyone got trapped in the cars and they abandoned the cars because we weren't watching the news and we didn't know. I was just watching one piece over by our house. But that house that I saw that initial one, it started going down that street and then it went down into the town cross Sunset and now it's coming up on some Mexico canyon by Pally High. And now it's coming at my parents house. So my oldest is your calls. I get out of there. So that my mom took nothing. Like we're not like, you know, we got some teddy bears and some kids clothes and you know, like three suitcases quick this. My mom got nothing.
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Stephen A. Smith
I want to ask you because I remember, if I remember correctly, I saw you doing an interview on Good Morning America and you were essentially detailing the shock of the loss of your home and how you didn't have fire insurance. Can you explain first of all, is that accurate? And secondly, why was that the case when it came to you? I understand what your dad and all because the house was 125 years of age. But what about yourself? Why was that?
- [13:13]
Spencer Pratt
So we had farmers like the great. Like I would be set right now if I still had farmers, but they. After the Woosley fire, I think farmers. Don't quote me exact. I don't know about. I thought I heard mercury. I know farmers dropped us and a lot of people in the Palisades after those fires. So the only thing we could get and honestly thank God we got is this thing called California Fair plant. But it just covers, you know, it's not covering anything that our house had and what was in it. I mean maybe a little bit, but not like a real insurance. So you know, I'm thankful we even got that little something. But it's not enough to rebuild the house. You know, we put all of the money we've been hustling for for 17 years. It was just in our house from you know, the kitchen knives to the dishes to the sheet. Like, you know, we just had a nice little setup and we didn't have some mansion. The house was 3,000 square feet. Let's be clear. Like, you know, people just think the palace is always this hunter. Millionaire rich people, movie stars. Like, I've been in the Palisades since I was born. It was just became all these rich people came and jacked up all the. The prices in the last, like, six years. I feel like. So this is like a new thing where you think of the palate. Like, when I was growing up, it was not like these all ballers. It was a small little town. And it's like, that's all my friends and family that lost their house. You know, it's horrible that anybody lost their house. But when people are like, you know, you see a lot of negativity, like, oh, these are just, you know, rich people. It's like, these are people have been in the Palisade 60 years. My next door neighbor, Calliope, lovely Greek lady, she's been in the Palaces for, like, I want to say 70 years. I don't want to, like, say she's 100. But my point is, everyone on my block have, like, they're lost everything. They're not these, like. So that's this disconnect, you know, the disconnect.
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Stephen A. Smith
And I want to get to that because, you know, you've been criticized on social media, media for your emotional interview and for wearing a shirt promoting your wife's music. Obviously, by promoting your wife's music, y'all have been able to generate some. Some revenue for yourself. I don't see. I don't see the problem with that, especially during a time like this. But I wanted to know what you had to say and what your thoughts were about what the critics were having to say about you and your wife.
- [15:28]
Spencer Pratt
The first off, people have been following me for, like, the last solid two years on Snapchat. They know I only have Heidi merch shirts. So when I evacuated, I got my Heidi merch shirts, like, seven of them. These. That's really my only clothes. And even if I have more clothes, I'd only be wearing the Heidi shirts. Because you can go back a year every single day on Snapchat. Every shirt I ever wear is Heidi. So just because it's tragedy, I've been. I'm not, like, changing my style and my appearance. I wear your shorts, and I wear a Heidi shirt every day to promote my wife's music. So I didn't, like, switch up, like, oh, I'm on Good Morning America. Let me get some merch to put on, you know, this has been my identity since I started, you know, goes way back. And then for critics that are saying that, you know, they're all. I always dealt with negativity and trolls and I'm fine with it. I love the engagement thing. But this time it just truly makes no sense because I'm trying to rebuild a life for my two kids and my parents and a family. It's like I'm trying to get money any way I can on TikTok lives getting gifts, Snapchat, selling crystals, T shirts, Heidi's music. Like there's full transparency. So they critics. That's not a critic to me. That's just somebody describing exactly what I'm going to do until we rebuild a house for ourselves and we rebuild a house for my mom. I told my mom I'm going to get all things she collected or hula dolls replaced and anything I can. I'm going to make sure that my mom, when she looks back at this, it's not the end of her life. And she's like, my son helped rebuild our. Our world.
- [17:00]
Stephen A. Smith
Spencer, what kind of money are we talking about here? And did you ever anticipate that you would be able, you and your wife would be able to generate this kind of revenue? And again, it's not a crime you're asking. You're not robbing anybody or anything like this. I just want to stay for the record. I have no problem whatsoever with what. With what you're doing. I'm just curious as to how, how. How successful this has been for you and I'm hesitant to use that word in light of the cir circumstances you and your parents losing their home. Please understand that.
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Spencer Pratt
100. So we've never made. I have no idea about music. Everyone's like, you're not actually making that money. You get.000 0.1% of streams. So I don't even know like you don't get the checks for like three months, I guess. Again, this is new where Heidi's a global music pop star, so I can't be like, oh, last month. And you know, this is brand new four days old. So I have no idea how much money the music is going to generate, God willing. But you know, I'm like, you know, TikTok, here's the craziest thing about, you know, I went up a million followers in a week. So the way these RPMs work on these videos because I'm in the creator fund and somebody explained it to me and I only get 10 cents, so I got to make A minute video. Minute and one second video, and I get 10 cents back if like a certain amount of millions of people watch it, engage and watch that minute. So like on TikTok, I made 400 million views worth of videos. And I. I'm not kidding. We'll check the screenshots. I'll send to your producers. Evidence. I don't think I made more than $6,000. So it's not like, oh my God, you know, on the TikTok lives when people choose to send me, you know, you go live and people choose to send me their gifts. They don't have to. They can tap the screen, they can share. And I tell people, you don't got money, don't send it to me. I just, I'm happy you're here, supporting. But the other night, you know, I went live for 30 minutes and there, you know, which was a big night. It was incredible. It was $18,000, which is a miracle, you know. You know, we got a long way to go to get these millions I'm trying to get, obviously, but, you know, that was a huge blessing and I was so thankful. But it's not rolling in. You know, I'm hustling to get to like, you know, people keep calling me a rich celebrity is like. And I'm like, a week ago, my Google network for the last 15 years was like washed up Z listed with $1,000. But now I'm getting hate for like trying to hustle to get. Become an actual rich celebrity. So it's just weird. Like, oh, now, now rich celebrity wants money. Like, nobody's calling me a rich celebrity for the last 15 years. So. And then one of our friends in Georgia, just that, you know, a random guy that I met on TikTok Live that became a close friend through social media on TikTok. Not random. Now he's a good friend. But him and his wife, when this all happened, with nothing to do with us, they made a GoFundMe, which was a miracle because I wasn't, I didn't. I was hustling. I didn't even know what. So they did that. And that's been. I think that's over. You know, the other day I read through on Tick Tock every single person at the time, their name, and I thanked them for their donation. And again, people are like, oh, he's asking me, it's $5. It's $5. It's 5 dollars. Which I'm not complaining about, but people are just buying me a nice latte, you know, like These aren't people like, oh, he's, you know, so, you know, there's some nicer people maybe have more money that did put more than that. But if you go look, the average is $5, $7. So it's not this like crazy how Spencer's asking people to give them their paycheck. You know, it's just, you know, so it adds up with volume. So that's incredible. Another miracle.
- [20:32]
Stephen A. Smith
Listen, there's no crime in that. Yeah. So no, I know you're making money on social media the way a whole bunch of people have made money on social media. It's no big deal. But. But let me ask you this because I'm thinking about Heidi. Your. The album she did, it was released in 2010 and fans have supported you all. In light of what's going on, it reached number one for both song and album this week on the itunes charts. Your thoughts on the potential of TikTok getting banned come January 19th? You thought about that at all? What are your thoughts?
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Spencer Pratt
Yeah, I've thought about it a lot. So of course, like the thing that haunts me the most is the flames coming down my street when I drove away and I was watching and I've been comparing it in my brain. Tick Tock. Being banned now is like a new flame coming down the street to trying to burn up everything I have that I built. Because in the last week, the power and the love and community, the people on Tick Tock, you know, obviously I got great people on Snapchat and IG, but TikTok's power, the way everybody gets together, like somebody said, what they're doing for us is the greatest group project that's ever existed on the Internet where everyone's come together and they're making remixes and they're tagging and they're reaching out and they're making sure famous people posted. And it's just like this organization of so many humans from all over the world. That's why Heidi was number one. And Australia, Oman, Netherlands, Canada. I mean the list was 15 number ones out of America. And it's all because of TikTok. I mean, we don't have presence in these places. So it's just the most insane, horrible extra little like of the. All the weeks I've needed something more. Just dealing with that stress of now and that anxiety of like the. The most powerful platform, this helping us rebuild our lives is being taken away. It's. It's another tragedy.
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Stephen A. Smith
Well, listen, man, all the best to you, your wife, your parents, of course You. You're. You're doing nothing wrong. You're not robbing and stealing from anybody. People are making. So hell, I'm doing this show with you. It's going to be on YouTube. You know what I'm saying? We ultimately generated revenue because of that. There's no crime in what you're doing. You do what you have to do. As long as it's legal and it ain't hurting anybody, the hell with all of them. You do what you got to do to take care of yourself and your family, my man. You take care of yourself. All right?
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Spencer Pratt
Thank you so much.
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Stephen A. Smith
Spencer Pratt right here on the Stephen A. Smith Show. And I mean that.
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Spencer Pratt
I know.
- [23:03]
Stephen A. Smith
What's he doing wrong? What's he doing? What's all the noise about? It's all the noise about. I don't get that. I don't understand that. You got people making money, talking shit about people at every turn. That's what they doing. This man lost his house. His parents lost their house. They're trying to rebuild, and they found a way to generate money on TikTok, and we got people got a problem with that? Makes no sense whatsoever. Thanks again to my guest, Spencer Pratt, for taking time out of his schedule to come on here. Clearly, he has better things to do with his time, but he still made the time to come on the show, and I really appreciate it.
- [23:44]
Geico Voiceover
Geico's motorcycle expertise means I'm covered by people who know bikes like I do. I'm happy as a clam. No conclusive scientific research has shown clams can experience happiness. I just meant that I feel really good about my coverage. I mean, even if you took the clam out for the best day ever, visiting the zoo, taking a scenic ride, knowing you're insured by specialists, and sharing a strawberry ice cream cone together, the clam would not feel happy. And your strawberry cone would taste sort of clammy. Geico's motorcycle specialists who know bikes like you do assume no liability for clammy ice cream cones. Geico expertise for your motorcycle.
- [24:15]
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.