Actor Mel Gibson and podcaster Joe Rogan have criticized California Governor Gavin Newsom for being unprepared to deal with the wildfires sweeping through Los Angeles.
The 69-year-old “The Patriot” actor appeared on the “Joe Rogan Experience” show on Thursday, and the two were quick to point out that the Golden State has spent billions in taxpayer money on homelessness, but claimed the state spent it “quickly.” On actions that could have helped prevent forest fires.
“We were just talking about the wildfire situation and how crazy it was that they spent $24 billion last year on the homeless, and what did they spend on preventing these fires?” Rogan, 57, asked.
“Zero,” Gibson replied. “zoom.”
The “Braveheart” star then criticized Newsom for not following through on things he said he would do to help prevent wildfires when he first took office.
“In 2019, I think Newsom said, you know, I'm going to take care of the forest and preserve it, and I'm going to do all that kind of stuff,” Gibson said. “He didn't do anything.”
“And on top of that, they cut off the water,” Rogan added, referring to reports that firefighters in California were running out of water as they battled the raging inferno across the region.
“I think all our tax money probably went to buy Gavin's hair gel,” the actor quipped. “…It's sad. The place is just on fire.”
The two later spoke about how “mismanaged” California has become and how “frustrated and confused” its leadership is.
Rogan criticized California's 40th governor for appearing on television in the past and promoting the idea that it is the “best” state in the United States with an “amazing economy.”
“You're out of your mind, man. You've destroyed this country. He's personally destroyed it,” the UFC commentator said.
Earlier in the interview, Gibson mentioned that his son Milo is part of a volunteer fire brigade in Malibu. He told his father that fires were burning in the actor's neighborhood, and sent him a video of an inferno near his home, according to Gibson.
Rogan then asked The Passion of the Christ director if the fire disaster was the thing that finally prompted him to leave California — as Rogan himself did in 2020 when he moved to Austin, Texas. During the epidemic.
“Yes, maybe,” Gibson said, adding that he has a place in Costa Rica.
Newsom pledged in 2019 to reform California's approach to wildfire prevention, and said the state's response to the recurring problem needed to change “radically.”
However, a 2021 NPR investigation revealed that the governor overestimated the efforts.
“The investigation found that Newsom overestimated the number of acres treated with fuel outages and prescribed burns by a staggering 690% on the very forest projects he said needed to be prioritized to protect the state’s most vulnerable communities,” reporter Scott Rudd wrote in 2021. .
“Newsom claimed that 35 “priority projects” implemented as a result of his executive order led to fire prevention work on 90,000 acres. But the state’s own data shows the actual number is 11,399.
The state disputed the report, saying the pandemic had hampered its wildfire prevention efforts “coupled with an unprecedented wildfire season that pulled already stressed wildfire crews away from prevention work and into firefighting work.”
“The idea that the Newsom administration is stepping back from the wildfire response — in dollars or actions — is completely inaccurate,” the governor’s office said after releasing the investigation’s findings.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection's (CalFire's) funding for fire protection, resource management and fire prevention totaled an estimated $3.7 billion in 2021-22, according to the state.
California has spent about $24 billion on homelessness since 2019, the Hoover Institution reported in July.
However, the report found that during those five years, “homelessness increased by about 30,000 people, to more than 181,000 people,” with an estimated 10,000 people becoming homeless between 2022 and 2023 across California.
