Celebrities have made their feelings known after police detained a suspect allegedly responsible for starting one of the fires raging in Los Angeles.
The Palisades, Eaton and Hurst wildfires have been ravaging areas of Los Angeles since Tuesday. Two more fires, Lidia, north of the city, and Kenneth, on the border of Ventura County, broke out on Wednesday and Thursday.
The death toll is at least ten, nearly 180,000 people have been evacuated and thousands of properties have been destroyed. According to Fox LA's Elex Michaelson, the suspect believed to be behind the Kenneth fire is a homeless man in his 30s.
Now, reality star Khloe Kardashian and actor James Woods have weighed in on the revelation. Newsweek emailed spokespeople for Kardashian and Woods for comment.
Kardashian whose well-known family has provided first responders with $2,500 worth of meals, posted a New Nation video on the person suspected of sparking the fire on her Instagram Stories.
"You sick mother f*****! 'What the f*** is wrong with people?!?! Arson!!!! May you be fully prosecuted!!! What scum!!!" she wrote.
Woods took to X to share a blurry photo of the alleged arsonist's face, writing: "Oh look, 'climate change' has a face!"
California has always been vulnerable to raging wildfires, but scientists have said that global warming has made them more frequent and more severe than they used to be. By the end of 2024, 8,024 wildfires had burned 1,050,012 acres of land across the state and killed one person, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Woods has long been a climate change denier, regularly sharing his thoughts on X. In a previous post, Woods retweeted a post from another user, which has since been deleted.
The actor added: "This fire is not from 'climate change,' you ignorant a******. It's because liberal idiots like you elect liberal idiots like Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass. One doesn't understand the first thing about fire management and the other can't fill the water reservoirs."
The suspect was initially detained "by citizens" in the Woodland Hills neighborhood not long after the Kenneth fire started on Thursday, Los Angeles Police Department officer Charles Dinsel told NewsNation's Brian Entin.
"What we know right now is that the incident occurred, started here and about 20 minutes, 30 minutes later, a suspect was detained over in Woodland Hills area by citizens," Dinsel explained.
Asked if the Kenneth fire was intentionally set, Dinsel said: "At this time, that's what we believe."
The man's identity has not been released, and an LAPD official earlier told Newsweek that the department is "continuing our investigation and cannot confirm any connection to any fire by this suspect at this time."
Before the suspect was apprehended, several celebrities had supported the theory that arson was the cause for at least some of the wildfires devastating Los Angeles County.
In a viral social media post shared late Wednesday, veteran actor Henry Winkler theorized that an arsonist was behind the extensive fire damage.
"THERE IS an ARSONIST here in LA," he wrote on X. "May you be beaten you unrecognizable !!! The pain you have caused !!!"
When Winkler posted his theory about an arsonist, Days of Our Lives star Alison Sweeney weighed in minutes later, stating that she "agreed."
THERE IS an ARSONIST here in LA . May you be beaten you unrecognizable !!! The pain you have caused !!!
— Henry Winkler (@hwinkler4real) January 9, 2025Dancing with the Stars professional Peta Murgatroyd took to Instagram to share a screenshot of an X post from political commentator Xaviaer DuRousseau, who wrote: "LOS ANGELES / SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA THERE ARE AT LEAST FIVE MEN GOING AROUND IN SKI MASKS STARTING FIRES. KEEP AN EYE OUT."
Several hours later, she returned to the platform to state in an Instagram Story post: "The fact that more and more people are being caught lighting fires makes me sick."
Singer Chris Brown included himself among the stars questioning the origin of the fires, writing in an Instagram Story post: "Someone starting these fires. S*** don't add up."
Podcaster and neuroscientist Andrew Huberman shared a viral X post on Wednesday night that showed a group standing by what appeared to be a freshly ignited fire in the Santa Monica area.
Captioning the footage, Huberman wrote: "People are lighting fires in otherwise non-burning urban areas of L.A. Saw this happen first hand at 302 Pico in Santa Monica. Called it in & fire dept & police responded. Stay safe and call in any activity ASAP. We don't need more flames out here."
TV personality Elizabeth Chambers shared in an Instagram Story post that she and her children evacuated on Tuesday as the fires raged through Pacific Palisades. Chambers, who called the upscale area home during her former marriage to actor Armie Hammer, also questioned the source of the fires in a since-expired post, writing: "Feels like this is a lot more than nature."
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