Katy Perry shared a selfie from inside the midterm elections voting booth earlier this month. She wanted everyone to know that she’d voted for Rick Caruso, a longtime businessman and Republican who registered as a Democrat in January, to be Los Angeles’ next mayor. “I am voting for a myriad of reasons (see the news) but in particular because Los Angeles in a hot mess atm,” Perry captioned the photo. Regardless of her reasoning, she was slammed online.
Perry turned off the comments on her post, but that hasn’t stopped people from letting Perry have it after Karen Bass was officially declared the winner over Caruso last night (November 16). Bass is the first woman and second Black person to serve as LA’s mayor.
“At the end of the day Rick Caruso spent 100 million + dollars to get everyone to hate Katy Perry,” Gareth Reynolds tweeted.
At the end of the day Rick Caruso spent 100 million + dollars to get everyone to hate Katy Perry.
— Gareth Reynolds (@reynoldsgareth) November 15, 2022
Perry hasn’t explicitly addressed the backlash, but on November 13, she tweeted a particularly interesting meme given the circumstances. “I finally realized it!” it reads. “People are prisoners of their phones. That’s why they are called cell phones!”
— KATY PERRY (@katyperry) November 14, 2022
Perry wasn’t the only celebrity publicly endorsing Caruso. Others include Snoop Dogg, Chris Pratt, Elon Musk, Kim Kardashian, and Gwyneth Paltrow.
See some of the reactions to Caruso’s (and Perry’s) L below.
katy perry smiling like a firework while losing most her fanbase over supporting Rick Caruso, before he loses being mayor (2022, colorized) pic.twitter.com/WSu10FcL2F
— elijah daniel (@elijahdaniel) November 17, 2022
los angeles, let me put it in a way u can understand:
celebs endorsing karen bass:
kerry washington
natalie portman
john legend
jane fonda
america ferrera
aloe blacccelebs endorsing rick caruso:
the kardashians
gwyneth paltrow
katy perry
elon musk
chris pratt
scooter braun— deanna mcdonald (@deannagmcdonald) November 8, 2022
Rick Caruso, the billionaire and former Republican who spent $100 million on his mayoral campaign and still got beat by Karen Bass, was endorsed by, among others:
Chris Pratt
Gwyneth Paltrow
Katy Perry
Maria Shriver
Kim Kardashian
Cenk Uygur
Ted Sarandos
Kris Jenner— Charlotte Clymer 🇺🇦 (@cmclymer) November 17, 2022
Tonight Katy Perry & her candidate for LA Mayor—Republican billionaire Rick Caruso who lied & fearmongered about crime & pledged to arrest & cage people without homes, people suffering from addiction, & in need of help—lost.
This is inexcusable: pic.twitter.com/4lCXAiOkUV
— Scott Hechinger (@ScottHech) November 17, 2022
Never 4get the day I made Buzzfeed for reminding Katy Perry how much she sucks. Please don't vote for Rick Caruso today pic.twitter.com/9iwEz94HQz
— Chelsea Rebecca 💀🥩 (@carebecc) November 8, 2022
We have eyes on Katy Perry as she learns Rick Caruso lost pic.twitter.com/bCCIS6dhLN
— Anthony Dominic (@alloveranthony) November 17, 2022
Rick Caruso spent all that money just to lose… him and Katy Perry in a dark room somewhere with Firework playing on repeat
— *placeholder* (@sadpurpleguyy) November 17, 2022
It is crazy to me that Katy Perry felt so strongly about voting for Rick Caruso and *posting about it* that she alienated and turned off a bunch of fans (pretty much every gay I know was appalled) and for WHAT?? He lost!!! A truly boneheaded move on her part!!!
— Andy Herren (@AndyHerren) November 17, 2022
If Rick Caruso won I would have had to give up Katy Perry (I couldn’t) and zoning out stoned at the Americana (I would never). Fucking huge relief.
— Paul Danke (@pauldanke) November 17, 2022
https://twitter.com/MattOrtega/status/1593040431264124929?s=20&t=1T_GA9o4tOdErhSDRWIjAA