Kevin Durant's media company says Caitlin Clark is the third most marketable WNBA player

Caitlin Clark has been a lightning rod since she entered the WNBA. She’s broken the minds of opponents and media members for years now. 

Fellow WNBA players like DiJonai Carrington have claimed her fans are racist. ESPN’s Monica McNutt has claimed her white skin is why fans are flocking to fill NBA arenas to watch her play. ESPN shockingly ranked Caitlin Clark the sixth-best rookie early in her rookie season. Even an anonymous media member decided to ruin Clark’s bid for a unanimous rookie of the year award, giving Angel Reese her solo first-place vote. Clark is no stranger to disrespect in rankings, awards, play and coverage over the years.

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On Friday, this was no different. Kevin Durant’s sports media and entertainment company, Boardroom, came out with their ranking of "The Most Marketable WNBA Players Entering This Season." Caitlin Clark should be first, right? Nope. She’s third behind reigning MVP A’ja Wilson and Dallas Wings' Paige Bueckers. Angel Reese is fourth on the list.

If we're being honest, Caitlin Clark is EASILY the most marketable WNBA player. That’s a given by any metric. So either Boardroom is being contrarian for clicks, or they're trolling us. According to Covers’ new "WNBA Marketability Index 2026" from a few days ago, Clark tops the league with a score of 83 out of 100, while Reese came in second at 80. How can Boardroom be so drastically different unless there is some sort of agenda here?

CAITLIN CLARK TOPS WNBA MARKETABILITY RANKINGS WITH ANGEL REESE CLOSE BEHIND IN NEW STUDY

I mean, come on. Every single Indiana Fever game is on national TV this season. All 44. Why? Caitlin Clark. A’ja Wilson, Angel Reese, and Paige Beuckers aren’t drawing close to that kind of interest from sports fans. The WNBA and it’s media partners know Clark’s marketability is off the charts.

The main reason the WNBA is talked about at all nowadays, and has any chance at profitability, is Caitlin Clark. She’s the golden ticket. She’s the reason the WNBA Players Association was able to force the league to pay them more money. She’s the reason teams started flying private two seasons ago. She forces teams to move to NBA arenas and sells them out. 

A’ja Wilson and Angel Reese have both come out with signature shoes. Neither of them had more buzz than Caitlin Clark’s Nike Kobe crossover. It took only about a minute for her Kobe 5 Protro Rookie of the Year shoes to sell out. Most were going for well over $350 on the secondary market, with one pair even costing $642.

CAITLIN CLARK'S INDIANA FEVER SOLD 90 TIMES MORE TICKETS ON STUBHUB IN HER ROOKIE SEASON THAN IN 2023

Caitlin Clark’s sports cards sell for exponentially more too. For example, Caitlin Clark’s 1 of 1 rookie Flawless WNBA logowoman card sold for a whopping $660,000, while Angel Reese’s highest sports card sale, her 1 of 1 rookie Immaculate WNBA logowoman, sold for less than 5% of Clark’s ($30,000).

Caitlin Clark is the Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan of the WNBA. She’s a transcendent star, who will go down as potentially the most impactful and influential female sports star in American sports. She’s that popular. She moves the needle that much.

If we wanted to have a conversation about who is a better player between Paige Bueckers and Caitlin Clark, we can have that conversation. Both are rookie of the year award winners. Both had impressive college careers, though Bueckers' was derailed by injury. Paige Bueckers may be on countless commercials ranging from Gatorade to Carmax, but acting as if she is more marketable than Clark, is laughable.

I don’t know what metrics Boardroom was pulling from as they compiled this list, but it's getting lambasted online, rightfully so. This is par for the course for the media, though. Reese was put on the cover of the NBA 2K26: WNBA Edition over Clark. Reese and Wilson were on the cover of the Wall Street Journal over Clark after she won Rookie of the Year. 

The Indiana Fever and Clark tip off their season at home on Saturday at 1 p.m. ET against the Dallas Wings and their star Paige Bueckers, alongside the No. 1 pick of the 2026 WNBA Draft, Azzi Fudd.

source https://www.foxnews.com/outkick-sports/kevin-durants-media-company-says-caitlin-clark-third-marketable-wnba-player

Brewers' flamethrower Jacob Misiorowski lights up record books with triple-digit speeds in gem vs Yankees

The New York Yankees did not stand a chance against the hardest-throwing starting pitcher of all time -- and that is not a hyperbole.

Jacob Misiorowski took the bump for the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday night, and he was clearly pretty amped up for his first start against the Bronx Bombers.

In his first inning of work, "Mis" threw seven pitches at least 103 mph, and he'd throw three more of such speed throughout the night.

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He topped out at 103.6 mph, and he now owns the seven-fastest pitches of any starting pitcher in the Statcast era (since 2008), all of which were thrown against the Yanks.

Three of his pitches from Friday are also the ninth, 11th and 12th-hardest pitches by a starter over the last 19 seasons.

The first inning was just a preview of what was to come, as Misiorowski struck out 11 over six scoreless innings of work.

PADRES TOP PITCHING PROSPECT SELF-DEPORTS TO MEXICO AFTER PLEADING GUILTY TO HUMAN SMUGGLING CHARGE: REPORT

Misiorowski had a no-hit bid through 5.1 innings before a hamstring cramp forced him out of a 6-1 victory over the Washington Nationals last week. He had five no-hit innings in his MLB debut last year but had to leave that game due to cramps.

In his second start, he was perfect into the seventh.

Shane Drohan tossed three scoreless innings for the save, as Milwaukee beat the Yankees, 6-0.

The 24-year-old right-hander called it a top-three performance in his major league career, which started less than a year ago but already has plenty of highlights.

Misiorowski won head-to-head matchups with 2025 NL Cy Young Award winner Paul Skenes and three-time Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw as a rookie. He had a 1.50 ERA in three postseason appearances last year.

"It's just adrenaline," Misiorowski said. "That’s all it is. You start getting hyped up and you want to perform for your teammates behind you because they're doing the same for me. That’s the whole goal."

Brewers manager Pat Murphy has another perspective on why Misiorowski shines the brightest when the stakes seem highest.

"Miz is interested in being great," Murphy said. "And he's in that process of being great."

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source https://www.foxnews.com/sports/brewers-flamethrower-jacob-misiorowski-lights-record-books-triple-digit-speeds-gem-vs-yankees

Former South Carolina QB Stephen Garcia changes his approach on mental health amid cancer battle

Former South Carolina quarterback Stephen Garcia is currently battling for his life after being diagnosed with stage 4 colorectal cancer.

The diagnosis came after noticing certain abnormalities, but the hard-nosed former athlete thought he could figure out the issues on his own without a visit to the doctors. His wife wasn’t comfortable with that plan from the quarterback, who used to take snaps for a Steve Spurrier-led offense led offense in Columbia.

Reluctantly, Garcia went in for a colonoscopy where doctors discovered the cancer, and that it had been growing for a number of years.

Unfortunately, Stephen wasn’t fully grasping the news when first given, due to him still being somewhat groggy from sedation.

Coaches push for 24-Team CFP, as college football heads towards participation trophy territory

But, when it was finally explained to him how serious this situation was, reality set in pretty quickly.

Obviously, there's nothing simple about hearing the word 'cancer,' no matter which stage or form you are dealing with. It will humble you quickly, with the grim outlook overtaking the mind.

And while this process to fight the disease will be tough, filled with many obstacles, Garcia was most worried about his family.

While his older son understands the magnitude, he has yet to fully inform his youngest daughter, which led to the former Gamecock shedding a few tears while discussing the situation with OutKick on Friday morning.

In the past, Stephen Garcia was not one to jump aboard the mental health awareness train, looking at it as someone who was not strong enough to handle the circumstances surrounding whatever battle they were facing.

But, that's the football side of Garcia, and he was the first to admit that his mindset had changed because of the stigma surrounding people, most importantly men, not feeling comfortable enough to discuss their struggles.

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This problem has led to many downfalls, or problems that arise by not talking to others about what they are going through in the moments of trials and tribulations.

For Stephen, that has all changed.

"In years past, I thought mental health was an absolute joke, just to be completely frank with you," Garcia told OutKick. "I was like, if you gotta have some mental toughness, I played for Coach Spurrier so I had to have some mental toughness to deal with him. But, I was also extremely hard headed. It is huge. There’s gonna be days when you’re not gonna walk to talk with anybody, days you wanna give up, you gotta stay mentally tough. This whole process has opened my eyes to a whole different deal.

"People can change. I was against the whole mental health thing, I thought it was stupid. But, it’s changed my opinion, my outlook on life in general, and I encourage everyone to speak it up. I’ve had so many people reach out to say if you need to talk, reach out to me. Everyone said the same thing that you have to be mentally in it. If you are positive mentally, you’re going to get through it. If you’re feeling down in the dumps, figure out a way to get positive. It’s no joke, you are where your minds at."

After going through his first round of chemotherapy this week, Garcia is coming to terms with the battle he faces, though he's keeping a positive outlook for the sake of himself and his family. He will continue training athletes, when his body allows, and using his platform to encourage others to take their health seriously.

If it weren’t for his wife pushing him into getting examined, who knows how long this could’ve gone before his cancer was noticed. In the meantime, the support system has been overwhelming, as Garcia described while choking back tears.

Whether it's the Clemson football team, or Dabo Swinney himself, and the thousands of people who have reached out over the past few days, it's not lost on the former quarterback how much the support has meant for his own sanity during uncertain times.

For now, Stephen Garcia is taking his battle with cancer one day at a time. But, he's also got college football fans rooting for him to beat this terrible disease.

source https://www.foxnews.com/sports/former-south-carolina-qb-stephen-garcia-changes-approach-mental-health-amid-cancer-battle

DOJ taunts media after Trump scores win in battleground-state ballot fight

The Department of Justice took aim at reporters it viewed as biased on social media on Wednesday after a federal judge sided with the government in a dispute over 2020 ballots and election materials it seized in Fulton County, Georgia, in January.

"Wrong again, MacFarlane," a DOJ communications account wrote in an X post, targeting a MeidasTouch journalist who had speculated the department’s arguments would fail to persuade the judge.

Judge J.P. Boulee had found in a 68-page order that Fulton County did not prove its rights were violated when the FBI seized more than 600 boxes of election records. Boulee, a Trump appointee, denied county officials’ request that the boxes be returned, handing the Trump administration a win in its broader fight to investigate the 2020 election and prompting DOJ to taunt media skeptics online.

"Sorry for your loss, Anna," the DOJ social media account wrote in a separate post about a Lawfare editor.

FBI AGENTS SEARCH ELECTION HUB IN FULTON COUNTY, GEORGIA

Boulee’s decision marked a win for the DOJ in its nationwide effort to investigate past elections in key battlegrounds that also include Arizona and Michigan, as Trump maintains that the 2020 election was tainted by widespread fraud and aggressively pushes for tighter election security measures ahead of the midterms.

The FBI had seized the boxes, which included 2020 ballots, from the Fulton County Election Hub and Operation Center after obtaining a court-approved a search warrant. An underlying affidavit revealed the bureau was probing allegations of ballot irregularities and record-keeping failures in Georgia, a state Trump lost by a razor-thin margin to President Joe Biden that became ground zero for Trump's election fraud claims in the aftermath of 2020.

FBI SUBPOENAS 2020 ARIZONA VOTING DOCS AS FEDERAL PUSH INTO ELECTION ADMINISTRATION WIDENS

Democrats have widely criticized the investigation, including Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., who called it a continuation of a "sore loser's crusade" upon learning of the probe.

Fulton County Board of Commissioners chairman Robb Pitts, who is named in the litigation over the box seizure, previously called the investigation "yet another act of outrageous federal overreach designed to intimidate and to chill participation in elections. ... I will always stand up for our elections workers and for the truth."

NAACP ASKS JUDGE TO LIMIT HOW FEDS USE GEORGIA VOTER DATA SEIZED BY FBI

Pitts and other Fulton County officials had argued the box seizures were unlawful and that the government showed "callous disregard" for the county's constitutional rights. But Boulee rejected those claims while still acknowledging that the underlying affidavit was flawed and contained "troubling" statements.

"While the Affidavit was certainly far from perfect, this is not a situation where an officer left out all the facts that might undermine probable cause or where an officer intentionally lied," Boulee wrote, adding that he "cannot say that the Affidavit was so deficient that its shortcomings rise to the 'high[] threshold' of callous disregard."

Boulee relied in his decision on the fact that the investigation was still in an early phase and emphasized that federal authorities had obtained a valid warrant supported by an affidavit. The affidavit outlined allegations related to missing ballot images, inconsistent recount totals and chain-of-custody problems, among other potential issues.

In response to Boulee's order, Pitts said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital that he agreed with the judge's assessment that the affidavit was "defective" and "problematic." 

"But I strongly disagree with the judge’s denial of Fulton County’s request for the FBI to return the election records it wrongly seized on January 28," Pitts said, adding that county officials would "continue, as always, to stand by our election workers and the voters of Fulton County. We intend to vigorously pursue all available legal options."

Fox News Digital reached out to Lawfare and MeidasTouch for comment.

source https://www.foxnews.com/politics/doj-taunts-media-after-trump-scores-win-battleground-state-ballot-fight

Justin Baldoni's team claps back at Blake Lively declaring 'resounding victory' in settlement

Blake Lively went on offense after settling her lawsuit with "It Ends With Us" co-star Justin Baldoni, asking a federal judge to award her potentially tens of millions of dollars.

In a new legal filing, obtained by Fox News Digital, Lively's legal team argued that Baldoni's dismissed $400 million defamation case was not only baseless but retaliatory. The 38-year-old actress accused Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and others of filing the countersuit to punish her for speaking out about alleged sexual harassment and misconduct.

Lively demanded a sweeping financial judgment that includes attorneys’ fees, triple damages for alleged harm and punitive damages aimed at penalizing what her attorneys described as an abuse of the legal system. The move marked a dramatic escalation in an already bitter legal battle, shifting the focus to retribution as Lively attempts to hold her opponents financially accountable.

"This settlement is a resounding victory for Blake Lively," representatives for Lively told Fox News Digital. "By agreeing to this settlement, and waiving their right to appeal, Justin Baldoni and every individual defendant now face personal liability for abusing the legal system to silence and intimidate Ms. Lively."

BLAKE LIVELY AND JUSTIN BALDONI REACH SETTLEMENT IN ‘IT ENDS WITH US’ RETALIATION LAWSUIT

"And by admitting that Ms. Lively’s concerns 'deserved to be heard,' the defendants have ended once and for all the fiction that Ms. Lively 'fabricated' claims of sexual harassment and retaliation," the statement continued. "From day one, Blake Lively’s mission was clear: expose and hold accountable those who weaponize smear campaigns and retaliatory lawsuits to intimidate and silence survivors. That mission continues."

A spokesperson for Justin Baldoni and the Wayfarer parties pushed back sharply on Lively’s claims, framing the outcome of the broader case as a decisive win for their side and downplaying the significance of her latest filing.

"Let’s be clear, this is a win and total victory for the Wayfarer parties," Bryan Freedman told Fox News Digital. "The court had already dismissed 10 of Ms. Lively’s 13 claims, including every sexual harassment claim, every defamation claim, and all claims against the individual defendants. Ms. Lively voluntarily dismissed the rest. In our view, they settled because they knew they were going to lose in court. All that remains is a pending request for fees based on a very narrow issue that has been with the court since September 2025."

JUSTIN BALDONI'S $400M LAWSUIT AGAINST BLAKE LIVELY DISMISSED

Lively and Baldoni announced they had settled their nearly two-year legal battle in a joint statement shared Monday. The "It Ends With Us" stars were set to face off in court on May 18.

Baldoni and Lively first became embroiled in the legal back-and-forth after filming the Colleen Hoover-adapted film, "It Ends With Us." The "Gossip Girl" actress claimed she experienced sexual harassment on set and sued Baldoni in December 2024.

Lively detailed allegations of sexual harassment, retaliation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence and more against Baldoni and film producer Jamey Heath in a complaint first filed with the California Civil Rights Department and later in federal court.

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Meanwhile, Baldoni insisted that Lively had "falsely" accused him in an attempt to repair her reputation following the fallout from the movie's press tour in his own $400 million defamation lawsuit. The actor's claims were later thrown out by a judge in June 2025.

After battling in court for the past year and a half, a federal judge allowed Lively's retaliation claims to move forward in the high-profile Hollywood lawsuit highlighting what she claimed was a coordinated effort by powerful insiders to manipulate public opinion and destroy the actress' reputation.

However, Judge Lewis J. Liman tossed the majority of Lively's allegations against Baldoni, including the sexual harassment and defamation accusations. The judge's ruling dramatically narrowed the case to focus only on the actress' retaliation claims and a breach of contract claim weeks before the trial was set to begin.

Lively and Baldoni's notice of settlement, filed Thursday, signaled the two had reached a final resolution — ensuring that the same allegations cannot be brought back before the court again.

source https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/justin-baldonis-team-claps-back-blake-lively-declaring-resounding-victory-settlement

Best friend booted from wedding for bride's bachelorette cheating, sugar daddy has money troubles & Reno Ruth

I don’t know what it is today, but it took a lot of caffeine to get me going this morning. It could be the rain. It could be the realization that we might have lost a real NFL love story with all the alleged Russini-Vrabel stuff.

It could be pure exhaustion from last week's claim from Ray J that he's slept with 12,500 women. That number is outrageous and the headline alone, no matter how ridiculous it is, tires me out.

I'm not even going to try to do the math or take a deep dive into how he arrives at that number. I'm going to ignore how insane it is and store that knowledge of Ray J's claim as though it's a fact.

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We have to keep things moving. It's Thursday, I'm caffeinated up to my eyeballs, and currently ignoring several messages. It's the perfect setting for the latest True Romance.

We have a bachelorette trip cheating story that somehow turns on the Maid of Honor.

We're going to look at a sugar daddy with money troubles and mood killers during foreplay. But the real treat this week comes from Reno Ruth, who sets me straight. She has a story of True Romance to share.

Go follow True Romance on Twitter and Facebook. Send your emails here sean.joseph@outkick.com (anonymously if you prefer) and you can find me on Instagram and Twitter.

The maid of honor and bride's best friend of 7 years didn’t end up attending the wedding after a bachelorette trip to Nashville. As she describes it, the bride was engaged to an awful man and was chasing a certain "rich" lifestyle.

The couple preparing to walk down the aisle met on a dating app, and he "love bombed" her right away. It was love at first sight. The first sight of money that her friend's now-husband had flashed, that is.

She was now set "to chase the traditional dream of perfect life, wife, and kids at 30," the fired maid of honor wrote on Reddit.

As part of her duties as the maid of honor, she set everything up for the bachelorette trip. She invited her close friends, a close friend of the groom and the groom's sister.

"At first, J (the groom) was hesitant about her going on this bachelorette as he’s extremely insecure, but she managed to convince him to let her go. I, on the other hand, managed to convince the group to cover the travel expenses for the Bride," she explained.

The bride-to-be, during the festivities, started saying things like she was only with her fiancé for his money and that she was not attracted to him. She tossed her engagement ring into her purse, told people they were on a "girls trip," then proceeded to enjoy herself.

Some may conclude that she enjoyed herself a little too much. The best friend admitted that she could have stopped her, but didn’t. Not when she acted like it was a girls trip and not when she popped off her ring.

Then she found the future bride at the bar with an attractive stranger. One thing led to another and when the other ladies called it a night, she ended up going to the attractive stranger's hotel.

"I stayed with the bride to make sure she got home safe," she wrote. "Instead, she propositioned me to a threesome with this stranger, and while I declined, I did follow her to the hotel, and waited in the lobby while she did the deed."

The next day, the group went back out and the groom's friend started to get suspicious when the attractive stranger showed up again. The bride's panic about what had gone on during the trip didn’t set in until they were heading back home.

The best friend gave her two options. She can tell the groom what happened and cancel the wedding, or she can take the infidelity to her grave with her and carry on as if nothing happened.

The bride chose a third option. She told her future husband most of the story, enough for him to get mad and kick her out for a period of time, and placed the blame on the best friend, claiming she was a "bad influence."

The couple manages to smooth things over and kick the maid of honor out of the wedding. They end up tying the knot and plan to live happily ever after without the bride's best friend in their life.

Talk about going out with a bang before getting married. Now you might find this surprising, but I'm on the bride's side here. She can’t have a best friend around who tells her after a wild trip that there's only two options.

She needs someone by her side willing to do serious brainstorming. I don’t blame her for pushing the best friend under the bus.

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On paper, a sugar daddy with money problems would appear to be an issue. But lucky for this young lady, the game of life doesn’t play out on paper.

Will it become an issue down the road at some point? I'm sure it will, but those are problems for another day. This sugar daddy isn’t stopping his spending.

She's been casually dating the older, wealthy man (maybe not as wealthy as he once was) for a year. She says that she genuinely likes him and wouldn’t be dating him if that wasn’t the case. The gifts, trips, fancy meals, and everything are apparently a bonus.

"I found out recently that he made some poor business decisions and is actually deeply in debt and on the verge of bankruptcy," she wrote to Slate.

"I told him that he can stop spending so much money on me, but he insisted that our relationship helps him take his mind off the major stressors in his life. He wants things to continue as usual and for me to not worry about his financial situation at all."

Can we give this guy a round of applause? It's not smart. It's more than likely going to make it more difficult for him to climb out of the hole he's dug for himself, and he's head down, full steam ahead, like nothing has changed.

She's feeling guilty for allowing him to continue to spoil her when she knows he's got some money problems, but I don’t hear any plans for issuing an ultimatum.

This is love. If she can ignore his reckless spending and pretend like everything is just fine, she might be the one.

This week one of the hot topics in the cesspool of Reddit was mood killers when things are just starting to heat up. You have the classics like having the wrong name called out and there are some truly bizarre ones with body parts being used as radio dials. Here are some ways to kill the mood:

- Reno Ruth writes:

Hi there. As you are on Fox News I’m hoping that you’re thinking person. 

Do you really want to know true romance? My husband and I will have been married 52 years 1st of June. We have been here for each other through many tough times, including some life-threatening, through thick and through thin, through times when we had no money to times when we could afford exactly what we wanted.

We met when we were not quite 20, dated without sex and married two years later. That’s true romance. It’s waking up in the morning and knowing that somebody is there who has your back no matter what,is your safe place in the world, and who wants the very best for you and will sacrifice their own interests to help you get what you want. That’s true romance, True romance is seeing him go off on a three week motorcycle trip because you trust him totally and you know he would never cheat on you. I can trust him completely with my very life, with my heart and with my body.

Try talking about some of those things for a change! Show the world what real true romance is!

Happily married,

Reno Ruth

SeanJo

First off, thanks for overestimating me. It means a lot.

All joking aside, I appreciate you reaching out and sharing your story of "real true romance." Congratulations on almost 52 years of marriage.

Obviously, this column normally dives into what you may call the more absurd side of romance, but stories from the other side are always welcome. Thanks for sharing yours, Reno Ruth. Here's to another 52 years.

-------------

That's all I have this week. I'll see everyone again next Thursday. If you're feeling inspired by Reno Ruth to share your own story of True Romance, please do so. You can reach out, anonymously if you prefer, at sean.joseph@outkick.com. Also, go follow along on Twitter and on Facebook. The DMs are always open.

source https://www.foxnews.com/outkick-culture/best-friend-booted-wedding-brides-bachelorette-cheating-sugar-daddy-money-troubles-reno-ruth

Spencer Pratt is standout LA mayoral candidate in debut debate performance: '10/10 no notes'

Former reality TV star Spencer Pratt, running in a three-person race for Los Angeles mayor, received rave reviews following his performance during Wednesday night’s NBC affiliate debate.

Pratt is facing incumbent Karen Bass, a former Democratic congresswoman, and socialist Councilwoman Nithya Raman of the Sherman Oaks district in the officially nonpartisan race, where issues of crime, immigration-related conflicts and response to devastating wildfires remain on Angelenos’ minds.

Conservative commentator Meghan McCain, daughter of the late Arizona Sen. John McCain, appeared ecstatic at Pratt’s performance.

"This is not hyperbole," she said on X. "Spencer Pratt is the blueprint for how my generation of older millennials needs to communicate and present their ideas and campaign messaging when running for office."

ROGAN BACKS REALITY TV STAR SPENCER PRATT’S BID FOR LA MAYOR, SAYS ‘I’D VOTE FOR YOU’

"He is 10/10 no notes. Absolute raw talent. Killed the debate."

Other observers, including TownHall columnist Dustin Grage, homed in on a moment in which Pratt gave a one-word answer to a yes-or-no question on noncitizen voting policies, while Bass and Raman offered commentaries that critics called "word salad."

Pratt told the moderator "no" when asked about Hollywood-area Councilman Hugo Soto-Martinez’ proposed ballot motion to allow noncitizens to vote in the city.

"Wow, the moderator asked a simple yes or no question in the LA Mayor’s Debate. Should noncitizens be able to vote in local elections? Spencer Pratt: 'No.' Karen Bass: Word salad. Nithya Raman: Word salad," Grage said.

Other respondents on X shared memes favoring clips of Pratt’s responses to questions, including a much-utilized GIF of Chris Tucker and Ice Cube reeling back and shouting, "Damn."

In the Los Angeles Times, columnist Gustavo Arellano said Pratt "mostly succeeded" at the debate but came off as a boisterous bro with enough charm to call himself ‘humble’ without coming off as obnoxious.

LA MAYOR BASS CONCEDES AFRICA TRIP WAS 'ABSOLUTELY' A MISTAKE AMID BOTCHED WILDFIRE RESPONSE

"He was light on specifics, other than saying he was going to do better than the others and that he would prioritize public safety above all. Instead, he was the one person on stage who used anecdotes to sell himself, citing conversations about abused animals, downtown workers too afraid to eat outside and film producers hiring local gang members to keep their shoots safe," Arellano wrote.

In a more favorable review, California Post writer Joel Pollak said Pratt was treated "like the beggar at the feast" by moderators but still became the "strongest personality" on the stage and surprised by creating an image of a "solid, big-city mayor" despite his political amateurism.

"You knew he would talk about Karen Bass’ failure in the fire. But what impressed most was his fluency with other issues, from crime to housing," Pollak said.

Political commentator Steve Guest called Pratt’s fire-related critique of Bass an "amazing moment."

"Spencer Pratt just torched Karen Bass on live TV," he said.

A similar fire-related moment was a "mic drop," according to Florida Politics editor Eric L. Daugherty.

source https://www.foxnews.com/politics/spencer-pratt-standout-la-mayoral-candidate-debut-debate-performance-1010-notes