Spencer Pratt, Heidi Montag on Backlash Over Receiving Wildfire Donations

While many celebrities have received criticism for asking for donations after the bushfire devastation, Spencer Pratt again Heidi Montag they talk Us why don’t they bother to “retreat”.

“We’re very used to the negative stuff, so it’s a good level,” Pratt, 41, said to himself. Us Weekly Wednesday, January 15. “If people want to send their own money to whoever they want, that’s like buying a celebrity merchandise, buying their movie tickets. People can do whatever they want with their money and, thank God, there are people who want to support us and send us anything.”

He added, “No one is needed, and it is not a tax.” People can say whatever they want and they are entitled to their opinions. But, all the people sending messages, asking to send money, asking to make an Amazon wish list. … These are their choices.”

Pratt and Montag, 38, lost their home in Los Angeles in the ongoing wildfires that ravaged Southern California earlier this month. This natural disaster covered thousands of hectares and resulted in the death of at least 25 people. Many citizens, including The hills alums, issued city limits following government orders.

Pratt and Montag left the property with their sons Gunner, 6, and Ryker, 2, with only a few personal effects. After losing most of their belongings, TikTok fans created a GoFundMe campaign on behalf of Pratt and Montag.

“When this first happened, that first day, they did a GoFundMe for themselves and it went on to do great and amazing,” Pratt recalled. “Then they passed it on to us. Thank you so much for doing that and creating an Amazon wish list. “

Montag reiterated that neither he nor Pratt wanted to solicit donations.

“Then our friends Brandon again Courtney [from TikTok] they were like, ‘We don’t care what you say. We know people who want to give you money and even if it’s just one donation that will help you,” he said. Us. “Therefore, we did not expect anyone to donate. I haven’t posted yet, but we’ve had a lot of people wanting to give $5.”

According to GoFundMe, the Pratts have raised more than $134,000 so far and some donations are as small as $5, but it’s not the amount that matters — the gift itself means so much more.

“People are like, ‘Well, they’re asking for money,’ someone’s coffee, so someone bought us coffee,” he explained. “It’s just at the top, so it might look like money, but scroll [through and see] people just send you a latte.”

“There are some people who say it is a great value and I thank every single person.”

Pratt went on to say that the alleged backlash comes from those who falsely believe that celebrities are all super rich.

“Nobody thought we were rich celebrities until three days ago and it’s boring. Like if you Google ‘Spencer,’ of course [says] ‘It’s broke, there’s no money,’” Pratt said Wednesday. “My balance on that site you’re looking at 15 years ago … was $1,000. So now our house is burning, my parents’ house is burning [and] now we are rich celebrities, which is annoying because the media, out of respect, never called us celebrities. [and] he never called us rich.”

He added, “It’s this weird disconnect that we’re meeting with really rich celebrities, which would be nice if we were … but it’s not, people know that.”

According to Pratt, they’re “just haters” calling Montag.

“No one has a brain [who] you think we are rich celebrities. It’s like these are hateful people who are partying,” he said. “People [who] they support us and have been following our lifestyle on social media, they realize that we are not rich celebrities. They see what we do every day. We’ve been posting our lives on Snapchat for the past 11 years, all day long. Our audience knows we’re not rich celebrities, they know we just eat Mexican food and get organic eggs and they know we do. We record everything.”

In addition to GoFundMe and Amazon Wishlist donations, Pratt and Montag also have money from their various businesses and social media uploads. Many fans have bought crystals from his store Pratt Daddy Crystals and often stream Montag’s past music and buy him merchandise. (They’re also members of the TikTok Creators Fund, where the app pays influencers for each popular video that gets authentic engagement, and a similar program on Snapchat.)

“Heidi is number 1 in 13 countries, I didn’t know that the people of Oman will support Heidi, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Saudi, I mean all these countries I hope God willing, and she will be a world star,” Pratt. it explodes. “We could visit and hug these people who were there when we needed them the most.”

Related: Celebrities Who Support Heidi Montag’s Music: Paris Hilton and more

The stars have been showing their support for Heidi Montag and her music after husband Spencer Pratt called for help following the loss of their home in the Los Angeles fire. “I am very grateful to everyone. No. 1 on the iTunes chart, oh my god,” Montag shared on a Saturday, January 11, Instagram Story. “Thank you […]

Their former MTV fare Kristin Cavallari, Audrina Patridge again This is Bosworth they also filmed themselves dancing to tracks from 2010’s Montag Superficial in the relevant videos.

“The great support of these people who use their platforms to help us when they know how influential their platforms are, and how important each post is to them and their products and ask the people they follow to support and help us. — it’s amazing,” Montag said. “We’ve never felt that support or kindness or praise or even something so important. It was really exciting.”

Pratt, who noted that they plan to rebuild their family home, recently opened up about their financial situation in recent videos on social media.

“We put all our money into our house and our lives to build something for our children that we can put in their name and all the information that we have saved every year for the last eight years,” he said. Us. “Our house was 3,000 square meters. It’s not a mansion in the Palisades. Everything was perfect from the stoves to the washing machines. That’s all we put our money into – then we go for a good grocery in Erewhon. But our life was like, ‘Put our money in our house, eat clean groceries and that’s it.’ We take one trip a year to see Heidi’s parents in Colorado.”

Pratt continued, “Any money we make from any TV opportunities or social media opportunities we just test it to test it. So it’s all like, ‘Oh, Heidi and Spencer [are] these rich people are asking for money.’ I wish I was a rich celebrity, I keep saying I’d be in Cabo right now eating tacos.”

Check it out LAFD website for local wildfire warnings and Click here to find resources on how to help those affected.

With reporting by Andrea Simpson