Stephen A. Smith is a New York Times Bestselling Author, Executive Producer, host of ESPN's First Take, and co-host of NBA Countdown.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
I want to address an important story that will affect
at least one hundred and seventy million Americans who used TikTok.
Earlier today, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld a law that
would effectively ban the social media platform in the United States.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
This coming Sunday.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
The Court rejected an appeal from the apps owners that
claimed the ban violated the First Amendment. In its opinion,
the Supreme Court acknowledged that for one hundred and seventy
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
(00:43):
concerns and that was a deciding factor in how.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
It weighed the case.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
They said, quote, Congress has determined that divestiture is necessary
to address its well supported national security concerns regarding TikTok's
data collection practices and relationship with the foreign adversary end quote.
The foreign adversary would be China. So what happens next?
The focus now shifts the President elect Donald Trump, who
(01:10):
can intervene after he takes office on Monday. Speaking to
CNN after the ruling. Trump said, quote, it ultimately up
goes up to me, so you're going to see what
I'm going to do.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
End quote.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Trump also acknowledged that he spoke to Chinese President Jishingping
earlier today. Again, roughly one hundred and seventy million Americans
and more than one billion people worldwide used TikTok, 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
(01:44):
his wife, is making some money, money they desperately need
because they lost their home in the fires and palisades.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Their parents lost their home as well.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
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
(02:16):
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.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
And there's no crime in that.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
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 to show on YouTube? Why does everybody
got a podcast and it's running on video and YouTube
and other platforms because you're gonna generate revenue for it.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
So I get that part.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
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
(03:11):
Supreme Court couldn't have been more direct. The Protecting Americans
from Foreign Adversary Control Applications Act as applied to TikTok
with Stan's First Amendment scrutiny and can take effect on
January nineteenth. The Court agree 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
(03:34):
parent company Bite Dance Byte Byte Dance to divest TikTok
or see it outsted from the US was ruled appropriately
tailored to meet those needs.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
So essentially, here's the deal.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Somebody out there needs to be able to purchase this
from Byte 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
(04:09):
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
(04:31):
also to influence the youth amongst US. And it's so
alarming that the United States government has considered it a.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
National security concern.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
I say, those security concerns usurp our preferences. I got
my daughters crying about TikTok, talking.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
About it's not fair. I don't like it. It's not right, daddy.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
I'm like, wait a minute, I happen to believe you
on TikTok do damn much myself, And what the hell
are you looking at on there?
Speaker 2 (04:58):
And why do you believe? But that's the best source
of news that.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
You can find because we can't stop everything. You can
take their phones away. They got an iPad or a laptop,
they use it. Then they use other people's phone, they
exchange messages, they're reading the news.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
They're acting like it's the modern day ABC News or something.
That's how these kids feel about TikTok.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
So I don't blame the government for feeling this way,
but national securities, 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 delayed this decision from
being made for a few months until folks get their
(05:44):
bearings under them.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Maybe that's what you do.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
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, Spencer Pratt, Spencer, how are
you How you feeling? How you feeling these days? I
know it's a lot going on. Put in the words
how you feeling?
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Man, I just been on highs and lows, an emotional
roller coaster. So thankfully a lot of positive things are
happening to us now that.
Speaker 4 (06:15):
I can stay focused on.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
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.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
There's a lot of lot of sad things going on,
you know, but I'm looking at the positives.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Take me back to the evening of January seventh, When
did you realize you were going to have to evacuate?
The fires were coming and you were going to have
to evacuate.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
So the night before I looked out the wind our
sun at like one hundred and four degree temperatures, So
we were up real late at night and the winds out.
The the look I got of the 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,
(07:07):
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.
Speaker 4 (07:17):
Fire and you need to get out of here.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
And respectfully to her, you know, I've lived there in
policies 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.
Speaker 4 (07:40):
And I'm thinking, Okay. I call my wife and she's
I said, you know, maybe pack some stuff up.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
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.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
Maybe I got videos of it.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
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 advantage 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,
(08:22):
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, seeing it, and I've seen people riding by
on bikes. I'm like, okay, they must know, you know,
(08:44):
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 be like
they just bounced right away. But now the planes leave,
the planes are gone, and now I'm starting to see
(09:06):
the flames come.
Speaker 4 (09:07):
And now I call my wife.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
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.
Speaker 4 (09:24):
That dip the thing in. He's like yeah, yeah, like
when they come in here, we don't know. So I
was still like, Oh, they got the water here, the
helicopter's gonna come and they're gonna drop it on it.
We're gonna be good. That didn't happen.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
No fire truck came, so I called nine one one
and they're connected me to the fire department, and the
fire departments like, I'm sorry, we don't have the assets.
Speaker 4 (09:42):
There's no fire truck coming.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
So I said to my wife, you better pack anything
you ever want to keep, And so that's what 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 on the Palisades, the idea
of that not being a safe place, like like, go
(10:05):
to my parents' house, you'll be safe because you could
never comprehend up on our top hill, like we're the
top of the Palisades.
Speaker 4 (10:12):
You know, where it makes sense that the fire could hit.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
But when my parents live, it's like down by the
ocean side of the Palisades. So like my parents' house
one hundred and twenty five years old. And I said
to my dad when I found out he had no insurance,
I'm like, you do not have insurance?
Speaker 4 (10:26):
He said, the house of one hundred and twenty five
years old.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
I knew if it ever burned down, it would mean
the whole town would have to burn down. And unfortunately, horribly,
that's what happens. 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 one hundred and
four degrees or watching Blue Wee or Curious George whatever
(10:50):
I keep calling him, like put on the news, like
what's going on? It's like, I can't you know when
the kids only you know it is what it is.
We probably should have looked on the news, but I guess,
but we weren't awhereof we're like the last people still
in the palace and its 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 the positive out of that is
(11:14):
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 across Sunset and now it's coming up onto Mescal
(11:35):
Cannon by Pally High and now it's coming at my parents' house.
So my listers were calls 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.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
I want to ask you because I remember if I
remember correctly. I saw you doing an interview on Good
Morning in America and you were essentially detailing the shock
of the loss of your home. Men, 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 at all,
because the house was one hundred and twenty five years of.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Age, But what about yourself? Why was that?
Speaker 4 (12:14):
So?
Speaker 3 (12:14):
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 of Mercury.
Speaker 4 (12:27):
I know farmers dropped.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
Us and a lot of people in the Palisades after
those fires. So the only thing we could get, honestly,
thank god, we got is this thing called California Fair Plan.
But it just covers I'm talking, you know, it's not
covering anything that our house had and what was in it.
Speaker 4 (12:45):
I mean maybe a little bit, but not like a
real insurance.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
So you know, I'm thankful we even got that little something,
but it's not enough to rebuild a house. You know,
we put all the money. We've been hustling for for
seventeen years. It was just in our house house from
you know, the kitchen knives, to the dishes to the
sheet like you know, we just had a nice little
setup and.
Speaker 4 (13:06):
We didn't have some mansion. The house was three thousand
square feet.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
Let's be clear, Like, you know, people just think the
Palace is all these this one hundred millionaire rich people,
movie stars. Like I've been in the palastates since I
was born. It was just became all these rich people
came and jacked up all the prices in the last
like six years. I feel like, so this is like
a new thing where you think of the Palate.
Speaker 4 (13:29):
Like when I was growing up, it was not like
these all ballers.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
Was a small little town and it's like that's all
my friends and family that lost their house.
Speaker 4 (13:37):
You know, I was horrible that anybody lost their house.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
But when people are like, you know, you see a
lot of negativity, like, oh, these are just you know,
rich people.
Speaker 4 (13:44):
It's like, these are people who've been in the palace
a sixty years.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
My next door neighbor, Calliope, the lovely Greek lady, she's
been in the palace. Its for like I want to
say seventy years. I don't want to like say she's
a hundred. But my point is everyone on my block
have like they're lost everything.
Speaker 4 (14:00):
They're not these like So that's this disconnect, you know.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
The disconnect, and I want to get to that because
you know, you've been criticized on social 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 revenue for yourself. I don't see I
don't see the problem with that, especially during the time
like this, but I wanted to know what you had
to say and what your thoughts were about what the critics.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Were having to say about you and your wife.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
The first off, people have been following me for like
the last solid two years on Snapchat.
Speaker 4 (14:34):
They know I only have Heidi Merch shirts.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
So when I evacuated, I got my Heidi Merch shirts,
like seven of them. 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 this tragedy I've been I'm
not like changing my style and my appearance. I wear
(14:58):
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.
Speaker 4 (15:06):
To put on.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
You know, this has then my identity since I started,
you know, goes way back. And then for critics that
are saying that, you know, they're always dealt with negativity
controls and I'm fine with it and I love the
engagement thing, but this time it just truly makes no
sense because I'm trying to rebuild a life from my
two kids and my parents and a family. It's like
(15:28):
I'm trying to get money anyway I can on TikTok lives,
getting gifts, Snapchat, selling crystals, t shirts, Heighti's music. Like
there's full transparency. So the critics, that's not a critic
to me, that's what somebody describing exactly what I'm gonna
do and tell.
Speaker 4 (15:44):
We rebuild a house for ourselves, and we rebuild the
house for my mom.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
I told my mom I'm gonna get all things she
collected or hula dolls, replaced and anything I can. I'm
gonna make sure that my mom and she looks back
at this, it's not the end of her life and
she's like, my son helped rebuild our world.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Spencer, what kind of money are we talking about here?
Speaker 1 (16:03):
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 you're doing.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
I'm just curious as to how.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
Successful this has been for you, and I'm hesitant to
use that word in light of the circumstances you and
your parents losing their home.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Please understand that.
Speaker 4 (16:29):
One hundred percent.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
So we've never made I have no idea about music.
Everyone's like, you're not actually making that money. You get
zero zero zero, zero zero point one percent of stream
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 stars, so I
can't be like, oh, last month, and you know this
is brand new, four days old, so I have no
(16:52):
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 ten cents. So I got to make a minute video,
(17:14):
minute and one second video and I get ten cents
back if like a certain amount of millions of people
watch it, engage and watch that minute.
Speaker 4 (17:22):
So like on TikTok, I made four hundred million views
worth of videos.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
And I'm not kidding. We'll check the screenshots. I'll send
your producer as evidence. I don't think I made more
than six thousand dollars. 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.
Speaker 4 (17:46):
I just I'm happy you're here supporting.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
But the other night, you know, I went live for
thirty minutes and there, you know, which was a big night.
It was incredible. It was eighteen thousand dollars with a miracle.
Speaker 4 (17:57):
You know. You know, we got a long way to
go to get these millions.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
I'm trying to get obviously, but you know, that was
a huge blessing and I was so thankful.
Speaker 4 (18:05):
But it's not rolling in. You know, I'm hustling to
get to like.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
You know, people keep following me a rich celebrity, is like,
and I'm like, a week ago, my Google network for
the last fifteen years was like washed up z listed
with a thousand dollars. 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. I'm like, nobody's calling me a rich celebrity
(18:31):
for the last fifteen 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.
Speaker 4 (18:43):
Now he's a good friend, but.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
Him and his wife when this all happened with nothing
to do with us. They made a GoFundMe, which was
a miracle because I was in didn't I was hustling.
I didn't even know what so they did that, and
that's been. I think that's over.
Speaker 4 (18:57):
You know.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
The other day I read through on TikTok every single
person at the time their name, and I thank them
for their donation, and again people are like, always ask them,
it's five dollars.
Speaker 4 (19:07):
It's five dollars.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
It's five dollars because 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.
Speaker 4 (19:17):
Maybe I have more money that did put more than.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
That, But if you go look, the average is five
dollars seven dollars. 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 volumes.
So that's incredible. Another miracle because there's no.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Crowd of that.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
Yeah, no, I know, you're making money on social media
the way a whole bunch of people have made money
on social media.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
It's no big deal.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
But let me ask you this because I'm thinking about
HOWI your The album She Did. It was released in
twenty ten, 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 or the put potensi of TikTok getting banned come
(20:03):
January nineteenth.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
You thought about that at all? What are your thoughts?
Speaker 3 (20:07):
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.
TikTok being banned now was like a new flame coming
down the street to trying to burn up everything I
have and that I built because in the last week,
(20:28):
the power and the love and community the people on TikTok.
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
this ever existed on the Internet, where everyone's come together
and they're making remixes and they're tagging and they're reaching
(20:50):
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
Oman Netherlands, Canada, I mean, the list was fifteen number
ones out of America. And it's all because of TikTok.
I mean, we don't have presence in these places. So
(21:12):
it's just the most insane, horrible extra little, like of
all the weeks, I've needed something more, just dealing with
that stress of now and that anxiety of like the
most powerful platform that's helping us rebuild our lives is
being taken away. It's another tragedy.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Well listen, man, all the best to you, your wife,
your parents. Of course, you're doing nothing wrong. You're not
robbing the stealer from anybody. People are making so hell,
I'm doing this show with you. It's gonna be on YouTube.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
You understand.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
We ultimately generate a revenue because of that. There's no
crime in what you're doing. You do what you have
to as long as it's legal and it ain't hurting anybody.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
The hell with all of them.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
You do what you gotta do to take care of
yourself and your family, My man, you take care of
yourself a right so much. Spencer Pratt rady on a
Stephen A. Smith Show, And I mean that, I.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Know what's he doing wrong? What's he doing with?
Speaker 1 (22:06):
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're 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.
(22:29):
Thanks again to my guest Spencer Pratt for taking time out.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Of his schedule to come on here.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
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.
I want to address an important story that will affect
at least one hundred and seventy million Americans who used TikTok.
Earlier today, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld a law that
would effectively ban the social media platform in the United States.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
This coming Sunday.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
The Court rejected an appeal from the apps owners that
claimed the ban violated the First Amendment. In its opinion,
the Supreme Court acknowledged that for one hundred and seventy
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
(00:43):
concerns and that was a deciding factor in how.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
It weighed the case.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
They said, quote, Congress has determined that divestiture is necessary
to address its well supported national security concerns regarding TikTok's
data collection practices and relationship with the foreign adversary end quote.
The foreign adversary would be China. So what happens next?
The focus now shifts the President elect Donald Trump, who
(01:10):
can intervene after he takes office on Monday. Speaking to
CNN after the ruling. Trump said, quote, it ultimately up
goes up to me, so you're going to see what
I'm going to do.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
End quote.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Trump also acknowledged that he spoke to Chinese President Jishingping
earlier today. Again, roughly one hundred and seventy million Americans
and more than one billion people worldwide used TikTok, 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
(01:44):
his wife, is making some money, money they desperately need
because they lost their home in the fires and palisades.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Their parents lost their home as well.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
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
(02:16):
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.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
And there's no crime in that.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
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 to show on YouTube? Why does everybody
got a podcast and it's running on video and YouTube
and other platforms because you're gonna generate revenue for it.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
So I get that part.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
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
(03:11):
Supreme Court couldn't have been more direct. The Protecting Americans
from Foreign Adversary Control Applications Act as applied to TikTok
with Stan's First Amendment scrutiny and can take effect on
January nineteenth. The Court agree 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
(03:34):
parent company Bite Dance Byte Byte Dance to divest TikTok
or see it outsted from the US was ruled appropriately
tailored to meet those needs.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
So essentially, here's the deal.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Somebody out there needs to be able to purchase this
from Byte 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
(04:09):
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
(04:31):
also to influence the youth amongst US. And it's so
alarming that the United States government has considered it a.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
National security concern.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
I say, those security concerns usurp our preferences. I got
my daughters crying about TikTok, talking.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
About it's not fair. I don't like it. It's not right, daddy.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
I'm like, wait a minute, I happen to believe you
on TikTok do damn much myself, And what the hell
are you looking at on there?
Speaker 2 (04:58):
And why do you believe? But that's the best source
of news that.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
You can find because we can't stop everything. You can
take their phones away. They got an iPad or a laptop,
they use it. Then they use other people's phone, they
exchange messages, they're reading the news.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
They're acting like it's the modern day ABC News or something.
That's how these kids feel about TikTok.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
So I don't blame the government for feeling this way,
but national securities, 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 delayed this decision from
being made for a few months until folks get their
(05:44):
bearings under them.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Maybe that's what you do.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
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, Spencer Pratt, Spencer, how are
you How you feeling? How you feeling these days? I
know it's a lot going on. Put in the words
how you feeling?
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Man, I just been on highs and lows, an emotional
roller coaster. So thankfully a lot of positive things are
happening to us now that.
Speaker 4 (06:15):
I can stay focused on.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
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.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
There's a lot of lot of sad things going on,
you know, but I'm looking at the positives.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Take me back to the evening of January seventh, When
did you realize you were going to have to evacuate?
The fires were coming and you were going to have
to evacuate.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
So the night before I looked out the wind our
sun at like one hundred and four degree temperatures, So
we were up real late at night and the winds out.
The the look I got of the 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,
(07:07):
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.
Speaker 4 (07:17):
Fire and you need to get out of here.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
And respectfully to her, you know, I've lived there in
policies 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.
Speaker 4 (07:40):
And I'm thinking, Okay. I call my wife and she's
I said, you know, maybe pack some stuff up.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
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.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
Maybe I got videos of it.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
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 advantage 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,
(08:22):
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, seeing it, and I've seen people riding by
on bikes. I'm like, okay, they must know, you know,
(08:44):
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 be like
they just bounced right away. But now the planes leave,
the planes are gone, and now I'm starting to see
(09:06):
the flames come.
Speaker 4 (09:07):
And now I call my wife.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
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.
Speaker 4 (09:24):
That dip the thing in. He's like yeah, yeah, like
when they come in here, we don't know. So I
was still like, Oh, they got the water here, the
helicopter's gonna come and they're gonna drop it on it.
We're gonna be good. That didn't happen.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
No fire truck came, so I called nine one one
and they're connected me to the fire department, and the
fire departments like, I'm sorry, we don't have the assets.
Speaker 4 (09:42):
There's no fire truck coming.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
So I said to my wife, you better pack anything
you ever want to keep, And so that's what 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 on the Palisades, the idea
of that not being a safe place, like like, go
(10:05):
to my parents' house, you'll be safe because you could
never comprehend up on our top hill, like we're the
top of the Palisades.
Speaker 4 (10:12):
You know, where it makes sense that the fire could hit.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
But when my parents live, it's like down by the
ocean side of the Palisades. So like my parents' house
one hundred and twenty five years old. And I said
to my dad when I found out he had no insurance,
I'm like, you do not have insurance?
Speaker 4 (10:26):
He said, the house of one hundred and twenty five
years old.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
I knew if it ever burned down, it would mean
the whole town would have to burn down. And unfortunately, horribly,
that's what happens. 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 one hundred and
four degrees or watching Blue Wee or Curious George whatever
(10:50):
I keep calling him, like put on the news, like
what's going on? It's like, I can't you know when
the kids only you know it is what it is.
We probably should have looked on the news, but I guess,
but we weren't awhereof we're like the last people still
in the palace and its 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 the positive out of that is
(11:14):
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 across Sunset and now it's coming up onto Mescal
(11:35):
Cannon by Pally High and now it's coming at my parents' house.
So my listers were calls 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.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
I want to ask you because I remember if I
remember correctly. I saw you doing an interview on Good
Morning in America and you were essentially detailing the shock
of the loss of your home. Men, 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 at all,
because the house was one hundred and twenty five years of.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Age, But what about yourself? Why was that?
Speaker 4 (12:14):
So?
Speaker 3 (12:14):
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 of Mercury.
Speaker 4 (12:27):
I know farmers dropped.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
Us and a lot of people in the Palisades after
those fires. So the only thing we could get, honestly,
thank god, we got is this thing called California Fair Plan.
But it just covers I'm talking, you know, it's not
covering anything that our house had and what was in it.
Speaker 4 (12:45):
I mean maybe a little bit, but not like a
real insurance.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
So you know, I'm thankful we even got that little something,
but it's not enough to rebuild a house. You know,
we put all the money. We've been hustling for for
seventeen years. It was just in our house house from
you know, the kitchen knives, to the dishes to the
sheet like you know, we just had a nice little
setup and.
Speaker 4 (13:06):
We didn't have some mansion. The house was three thousand
square feet.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
Let's be clear, Like, you know, people just think the
Palace is all these this one hundred millionaire rich people,
movie stars. Like I've been in the palastates since I
was born. It was just became all these rich people
came and jacked up all the prices in the last
like six years. I feel like, so this is like
a new thing where you think of the Palate.
Speaker 4 (13:29):
Like when I was growing up, it was not like
these all ballers.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
Was a small little town and it's like that's all
my friends and family that lost their house.
Speaker 4 (13:37):
You know, I was horrible that anybody lost their house.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
But when people are like, you know, you see a
lot of negativity, like, oh, these are just you know,
rich people.
Speaker 4 (13:44):
It's like, these are people who've been in the palace
a sixty years.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
My next door neighbor, Calliope, the lovely Greek lady, she's
been in the palace. Its for like I want to
say seventy years. I don't want to like say she's
a hundred. But my point is everyone on my block
have like they're lost everything.
Speaker 4 (14:00):
They're not these like So that's this disconnect, you know.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
The disconnect, and I want to get to that because
you know, you've been criticized on social 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 revenue for yourself. I don't see I
don't see the problem with that, especially during the time
like this, but I wanted to know what you had
to say and what your thoughts were about what the critics.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Were having to say about you and your wife.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
The first off, people have been following me for like
the last solid two years on Snapchat.
Speaker 4 (14:34):
They know I only have Heidi Merch shirts.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
So when I evacuated, I got my Heidi Merch shirts,
like seven of them. 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 this tragedy I've been I'm
not like changing my style and my appearance. I wear
(14:58):
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.
Speaker 4 (15:06):
To put on.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
You know, this has then my identity since I started,
you know, goes way back. And then for critics that
are saying that, you know, they're always dealt with negativity
controls and I'm fine with it and I love the
engagement thing, but this time it just truly makes no
sense because I'm trying to rebuild a life from my
two kids and my parents and a family. It's like
(15:28):
I'm trying to get money anyway I can on TikTok lives,
getting gifts, Snapchat, selling crystals, t shirts, Heighti's music. Like
there's full transparency. So the critics, that's not a critic
to me, that's what somebody describing exactly what I'm gonna
do and tell.
Speaker 4 (15:44):
We rebuild a house for ourselves, and we rebuild the
house for my mom.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
I told my mom I'm gonna get all things she
collected or hula dolls, replaced and anything I can. I'm
gonna make sure that my mom and she looks back
at this, it's not the end of her life and
she's like, my son helped rebuild our world.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Spencer, what kind of money are we talking about here?
Speaker 1 (16:03):
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 you're doing.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
I'm just curious as to how.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
Successful this has been for you, and I'm hesitant to
use that word in light of the circumstances you and
your parents losing their home.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Please understand that.
Speaker 4 (16:29):
One hundred percent.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
So we've never made I have no idea about music.
Everyone's like, you're not actually making that money. You get
zero zero zero, zero zero point one percent of stream
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 stars, so I
can't be like, oh, last month, and you know this
is brand new, four days old, so I have no
(16:52):
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 ten cents. So I got to make a minute video,
(17:14):
minute and one second video and I get ten cents
back if like a certain amount of millions of people
watch it, engage and watch that minute.
Speaker 4 (17:22):
So like on TikTok, I made four hundred million views
worth of videos.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
And I'm not kidding. We'll check the screenshots. I'll send
your producer as evidence. I don't think I made more
than six thousand dollars. 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.
Speaker 4 (17:46):
I just I'm happy you're here supporting.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
But the other night, you know, I went live for
thirty minutes and there, you know, which was a big night.
It was incredible. It was eighteen thousand dollars with a miracle.
Speaker 4 (17:57):
You know. You know, we got a long way to
go to get these millions.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
I'm trying to get obviously, but you know, that was
a huge blessing and I was so thankful.
Speaker 4 (18:05):
But it's not rolling in. You know, I'm hustling to
get to like.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
You know, people keep following me a rich celebrity, is like,
and I'm like, a week ago, my Google network for
the last fifteen years was like washed up z listed
with a thousand dollars. 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. I'm like, nobody's calling me a rich celebrity
(18:31):
for the last fifteen 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.
Speaker 4 (18:43):
Now he's a good friend, but.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
Him and his wife when this all happened with nothing
to do with us. They made a GoFundMe, which was
a miracle because I was in didn't I was hustling.
I didn't even know what so they did that, and
that's been. I think that's over.
Speaker 4 (18:57):
You know.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
The other day I read through on TikTok every single
person at the time their name, and I thank them
for their donation, and again people are like, always ask them,
it's five dollars.
Speaker 4 (19:07):
It's five dollars.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
It's five dollars because 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.
Speaker 4 (19:17):
Maybe I have more money that did put more than.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
That, But if you go look, the average is five
dollars seven dollars. 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 volumes.
So that's incredible. Another miracle because there's no.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Crowd of that.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
Yeah, no, I know, you're making money on social media
the way a whole bunch of people have made money
on social media.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
It's no big deal.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
But let me ask you this because I'm thinking about
HOWI your The album She Did. It was released in
twenty ten, 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 or the put potensi of TikTok getting banned come
(20:03):
January nineteenth.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
You thought about that at all? What are your thoughts?
Speaker 3 (20:07):
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.
TikTok being banned now was like a new flame coming
down the street to trying to burn up everything I
have and that I built because in the last week,
(20:28):
the power and the love and community the people on TikTok.
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
this ever existed on the Internet, where everyone's come together
and they're making remixes and they're tagging and they're reaching
(20:50):
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
Oman Netherlands, Canada, I mean, the list was fifteen number
ones out of America. And it's all because of TikTok.
I mean, we don't have presence in these places. So
(21:12):
it's just the most insane, horrible extra little, like of
all the weeks, I've needed something more, just dealing with
that stress of now and that anxiety of like the
most powerful platform that's helping us rebuild our lives is
being taken away. It's another tragedy.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Well listen, man, all the best to you, your wife,
your parents. Of course, you're doing nothing wrong. You're not
robbing the stealer from anybody. People are making so hell,
I'm doing this show with you. It's gonna be on YouTube.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
You understand.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
We ultimately generate a revenue because of that. There's no
crime in what you're doing. You do what you have
to as long as it's legal and it ain't hurting anybody.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
The hell with all of them.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
You do what you gotta do to take care of
yourself and your family, My man, you take care of
yourself a right so much. Spencer Pratt rady on a
Stephen A. Smith Show, And I mean that, I.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Know what's he doing wrong? What's he doing with?
Speaker 1 (22:06):
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're 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.
(22:29):
Thanks again to my guest Spencer Pratt for taking time out.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Of his schedule to come on here.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
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.
Host
Stephen A. Smith
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