Actor Mel Gibson and podcaster Joe Rogan ripped into California Governor Gavin Newsom for being unprepared to handle the wildfires tearing through Los Angeles.
“The Patriot” actor, 69, appeared on the “Joe Rogan Experience” Thursday, and the two were quick to point out that the Golden State spent billions of taxpayers’ money on homelessness but claimed the state spent “zip” on measures that could have helped prevent the wildfires.
“We were just talking about the wildfire situation and how crazy it is that they spent $24 billion dollars last year on the homeless, and what did they spend on preventing these wildfires?” Rogan, 57, asked.
“Zero,” Gibson replied. “Zip.”
The “Braveheart” star then slammed 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 maintain the forest’ and do all that kind of stuff,” Gibson said. “He didn’t do anything.”
“And on top of that, they cut the water off,” Rogan added, alluding to reports that California firefighters are running out of water as they battle the raging infernos across the area.
“I think all our tax dollars probably went for Gavin’s hair gel,” the actor quipped. “… It’s sad. The place is just on fire.”
The two later tore into how “poorly managed” California has become and how “frustrating and confusing” its leadership is.
Rogan criticized the 40th governor of California for appearing on TV in the past and bolstering the idea that it’s the “best” state in the US with an “amazing economy.”
“You’re out of your f–king mind, dude. You’ve ruined this state. Personally ruined 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 dad that fires were raging in the actor’s neighborhood, and he 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 catastrophe was the thing that would finally get him to leave California — as Rogan himself did in 2020 when he moved to Austin, Texas. during the pandemic.
“Yeah, maybe,” Gibson said, adding 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 handling the frequent issue needed to “fundamentally” change.
However, a 2021 NPR investigation uncovered that the governor overstated the efforts.
“The investigation found Newsom overstated, by an astounding 690%, the number of acres treated with fuel breaks and prescribed burns in the very forestry projects he said needed to be prioritized to protect the state’s most vulnerable communities,” reporter Scott Rodd wrote in 2021.
“Newsom has claimed that 35 ‘priority projects’ carried out as a result of his executive order resulted in fire prevention work on 90,000 acres. But the state’s own data show the actual number is 11,399.”
The state disputed the report, saying the pandemic hampered its efforts in wildfire prevention “along with an unprecedented wildfire season which pulled our already strained wildfire crews away from prevention work to firefighting work.”
“The notion that the Newsom administration is retreating on wildfire response – in dollars or actions – is wholly inaccurate,” the governor’s office said after the investigation’s findings were released.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection’s (CalFire’s) total funding for fire protection, resource management, and fire prevention was 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, to more than 181,000,” with an estimated 10,000 people becoming homeless between 2022 and 2023 throughout California.
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