Liberal Hollywood icon Julia Roberts sparked backlash on Tuesday after criticizing looters during the Los Angeles wildfires, despite her history of supporting Democratic policies that are soft on crime.
Roberts, 57, took to Instagram on Monday to promote a Southern California Fire fund aimed at “providing Immediate and Long Term support for all those impacted” by the devastating wildfires sweeping through southern California.
Her post read, “There is so much healing and help needed. We will get through this. #F.U.Looters. To donate and have a direct impact, please visit the link in my bio.”
Looters have reportedly been targeted homes in the affluent area after families evacuated to escape the fires.
Julia Roberts sends message to looters as multimillion dollar mansions are ransacked during the LA wildfires.
‘F. U looters.’
The actress, who backed Harris for President has several mansions in California.
Bahahahaha 🤣🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/z1mUEMbatB
— PNW Conservative (@UnderWashington) January 15, 2025
The controversial hashtag, “F.U.Looters,” became a hot topic on social media, drawing criticism for Roberts’ perceived hypocrisy.
Critics quickly pointed out her past support for Democratic fundraisers linked to “soft-on-crime” stances.
“Powerful,” one user commented. “Then she left for a Gavin Newsom fundraiser.”
— Jazzmine Budge (@JazzmineBudge) January 14, 2025
“So it’s ok when they loot businesses but not ok when it’s their homes,” another chimed in. “Rules for thee, not for me.”
Conservative commentator Robbie Starbuck slammed Roberts, tweeting, “Julia is a big supporter of CA Democrats and recently urged wives of male Trump voters to secretly vote for Kamala Harris.”
“The same CA Dems she supported are the ones who made looting so easy for so long. At some point she needs to direct her comments to her mirror,” he continued.
Starbuck shared images allegedly showing Roberts’ previous donations to Democratic campaigns in 2024.
“When you give this much money to the Democrats who make looting so easy to do, you lose your right to pretend you have an issue with it,” he captioned the post.
When you give this much money to the Democrats who make looting so easy to do, you lose your right to pretend you have an issue with it. pic.twitter.com/AiC8H27ZAQ
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) January 14, 2025
Fox News personality Tomi Lahren also weighed in, stating, “Julia Roberts says ‘f*** you’ to looters as $10M homes continue to be robbed during LA fires.”
“Question, Julia, why is looting unacceptable now BUT in the name of George Floyd y’all were cool with it…” she added.
Roberts had earlier made headlines late in the 2024 election cycle when she lent her voice to a campaign ad for Vice President Kamala Harris.
The ad encouraged wives of Trump voters to cast secret ballots in support of Harris without informing their spouses, a move that stirred considerable controversy at the time.
Meanwhile, the wildfires raging in Southern California also became the backdrop for a different kind of critique.
Comedian Whitney Cummings took aim at the increased diversity hiring efforts within the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD), cracking jokes that many saw as both pointed and inflammatory.
Responding to a report on the department’s DEI recruitment practices, Cummings joked in a social media video, “All right, like everyone, I’m trying to figure out how this happened in California so that I don’t say something that’s inaccurate.”
I love a lesbo but LA fire is run by THREE lesbians? Are you allowed to just only recruit people in your dating pool? pic.twitter.com/ZA3ez92aUA
— Whitney Cummings (@WhitneyCummings) January 10, 2025
“I came across a video of the fire chief, a lesbian, love it, great. Failed at lesbians! Tried to be one, didn’t take. I don’t think I’m a lesbian; I just live in Los Angeles, and the men are so effeminate that honestly at this point dating a woman is like the straightest thing you can do,” she quipped.
The comedian went on to highlight the department’s efforts to recruit more LGBTQ individuals, sarcastically suggesting, “But is that not like… why is that OK? That would be like a gay [saying], ‘We need more gay men in here!'”
“That’d be like me going, ‘We need more hot guys in here to be firefighters.’ That would be like a dude being like, ‘We just need more hot blondes.’ Isn’t that essentially just recruiting people in your dating pool to work in your office?” she continued.
Cummings concluded her tirade by remarking on the seemingly high number of lesbian firefighters, quipping, “Wait, all the people in charge of L.A.’s fire response are lesbians named Kristin [Crowley]? I do not recall voting on a prop that said we could recruit our fire team off of Grindr. What?!”
However, Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley found support from an unlikely ally—reality TV star Khloe Kardashian.
Taking to social media, Kardashian defended Crowley amidst criticism of the city’s response to the fires, and placed the blame squarely on LA Mayor Karen Bass.
Kardashian posted a video of Chief Crowley discussing the impact of a $17.5 million budget cut to the LAFD. During the clip, Crowley candidly stated that the city’s decision had severely hampered the fire department’s emergency response capabilities.
Kardashian captioned the post, “I stand by YOU Chief Crowley!!!! You spoke the truth and you had tears in your eyes because I can tell you didn’t even want to say that but it was THE TRUTH!!!!”
She continued, “Thank you for being honest. Mayor Bass you are a joke!!!!”
The reality star also shared an excerpt from a memo issued by the LAFD to the board of fire commissioners, warning that the budget cuts would “severely limit the department’s capacity to prepare for, train for, and respond to large-scale emergencies, including wildfires.”