Dem rep slammed for sharing clip of burning McDonald's, blaming corporations for wildfires

Social media users bashed Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., for blaming the Los Angeles-area wildfires on corporations that have allegedly contributed to climate change. 

Jayapal stirred up the outrage on Thursday afternoon, sharing a clip of a McDonald’s fast-food restaurant caught in the blaze.

She commented, "Corporations got us into this mess, but even they can't escape the devastating reality of climate change."

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X users bashed Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., for recently saying climate-harming corporations like McDonald's are to blame for the California fires. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Conservatives on X countered Jayapal's assertion and argued that the devastation caused by the natural disaster was compounded by government incompetence and mismanagement more so than climate change allegedly caused by corporations.

"Did climate change fail to remove brush for YEARS? Did it fail to plan for generator needs? Did it fail to ensure working fire hydrants? Did it fire firemen who refused the COVID vax?" former GOP congressional candidate Robby Starbuck asked the congresswoman.

Popular conservative account "End Wokeness" corrected the congresswoman, stating, "You misspelled Dem mismanagement."

Similarly, journalist Tom Elliott declared, "If by corporations you mean politicians, then yes you nailed it."

Conservative columnist Tim Young asked, "Corporations started the fire and mismanaged first responder resources in California? Sit down."

Author Jim Hanson posted a sarcastic reply, stating, "I was unaware McDonalds failed to fill the reservoirs And cut the LAFD budget by $17M. How dare they."

Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Wis., quipped, "Dem lawmaker blames Ronald McDonald, Grimace, and Hamburglar for starting wildfires."

The Spectator contributing editor Stephen Miller posted, "She's right. McDonald's should shutter every restaurant and move every job out of California."

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Fire personnel respond to homes destroyed while a helicopter drops water as the Palisades Fire grows in Pacific Palisades, California on Jan. 7, 2025. (DAVID SWANSON/AFP via Getty Images)

Rep. Jayapal did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment. 

As the fires have ravaged vast swaths of Los Angeles County since Tuesday – so far killing ten people, destroying thousands of homes, and forcing more than 130,000 people to evacuate the area – people have been calling out the local government for contributing to the destruction. 

Vanity Fair reporter Nick Bilton called out Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass for budget cuts to the L.A. Fire Department within the last year, as well as her traveling overseas during the inferno.

He shared on X, "Karen Bass cut fire department funding by $17+ million. She was in Ghana when the fires started, even though she knew about them (as we all did), days before. This should have been treated like a CAT 5 Hurricane before it started, but instead it was treated by our current mayor as not important enough to even be here."

Los Angeles Times owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong ripped the mayor over the LAFD budget cuts as well, though his number was inaccurate, as it was a $17 million cut. 

"Fires in LA are sadly no surprise, yet the Mayor cut LA Fire Department’s budget by $23M. And reports of empty fire hydrants raise serious questions," he wrote. "Competence matters."

And even Hollywood celebrities called out the city government for dropping the ball during the tragedy.

"City of LA you want everyone to evacuate yet you have complete gridlock and not one traffic cop on the roads helping," actress Sarah Michelle Gellar wrote on Instagram.

And influencer and model Amber Rose asked on the same platform, "How TF is there Low water pressure in Los Angeles???? WTF The fire hydrants barely work here??? This is insane!"

Gabriel Hays is an associate editor for Fox News Digital.