In some fiery comments that come as the Golden State’s residents try to deal with the aftermath of the massive fires that ravaged Southern California, particularly the Palisades fire and Eaton fire that tore through the neighborhoods around Los Angeles, Mel Gibson obliterated Governor Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass.
His comments came when he joined the group “Saving California” for a conference on Wednesday, February 26, in Altadena, California. During that press conference, he sounded off on how California’s elected leaders had betrayed their constituents and allowed the state’s notorious fires to become so devastating.
Commenting on that, Gibson said, as Fox News Digital reports, that Californians deserve better and were betrayed by the utter failure of their leaders. He said, “We deserve much more and much better, and there is absolutely no adequate excuse the governor or mayor can make for this gross mismanagement and failure to preemptively deal with what they knew was coming.”
Continuing, the actor noted that the disaster was a mix of incompetence, insouciance, and utter neglect, all of which California’s elected leadership exhibited in the run-up to and aftermath of the fires. He said, “Was it incompetence? Was it indifference, complacency, carelessness? Was it negligence? Absolutely.”
This isn’t the first time that Gibson has commented on the disastrous current state of things in California. Speaking to Hannity around the time of the fires, he said, “A lot of people have left, and I don’t blame them. It didn’t suit them anymore. Even…people who were liberal, it didn’t suit them anymore. But if everybody leaves, what’s going to happen?”
On the same note, Gibson said that those fleeing the disastrous government of California are doing so because they can see that life in California makes no sense when other states charge less in taxes, have far more functional public services, and don’t stifle economic activity with regulations.
Making that point about that aspect of the exodus from California, Gibson said, “[People] are going somewhere else because it’s more cost-effective. There [are[ just a lot of prohibitive regulations and things in the way that I think could be lifted…But I think it can be fixed.” Watch him here:
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Also commenting on the fires at the time they occurred, Gibson said that it was just “stuff” of his that burned. “I’m looking at video of ruins of what was once your home. How are you doing?” NewsNation journalist Elizabeth Vargas asked the celebrity during an interview over the phone. He responded, “I’m doing good, you know, it’s just a thing.”
Referencing a bit from the late legendary comedian George Carlin, Gibson then said, “But it is obviously kind of devastating emotionally. You know, you’ve lived there for a long time. And you had all your ‘stuff’… Do you remember George Carlin talking about your ‘stuff’?”
“I had all my ‘stuff’ there and it’s like I’ve been relieved from the burden of my stuff, because it’s all in cinders,” he added. Injecting a bit of humor in his statement, Gibson quipped, “Well, at least I haven’t got any of those pesky plumbing problems anymore.” He further noted, “I have never seen a place so perfectly burnt. You could put it in an urn, you know?”
He later said, illustrating just how brutal the fires were, “Some of the neighbors really got it hard.” Gibson pointed out many of the notable figures who had lost homes in the neighborhood. “You know, Ed Harris, the actor, lives down the street and I think his place is gone and many of my friends up and down the street. And it was kind of random. It wasn’t every place but it was quite a few places,” he said.
Featured image credit: By Georges Biard, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=33029598