Newsmax graphic saying "Death by DEI"

Newsmax

Right-wing media figures baselessly claim LA wildfires are burning out of control because the fire chief is an LGBTQ woman who supports DEI

As the fires burned, commentators claimed that DEI “is quite literally getting people killed”

Written by Payton Armstrong

Published

Right-wing media figures are exploiting the devastating Los Angeles County wildfires to further their crusade against diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, suggesting the fires are burning out of control because LAFD's chief is an LGBTQ woman who supports DEI initiatives, declaring “DEI = DIE,” and claiming that “it literally leads to death.”

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  • Uncontained wildfires in Los Angeles County have forced thousands to evacuate

    • Wildfires in Los Angeles have killed at least five and forced tens of thousands to evacuate their homes, and the fires remain largely uncontained. The Los Angeles Times reported that “more than 1,000 homes, businesses and other buildings have burned and at least two people are dead in wildfires burning across L.A. County, making this one of the most destructive firestorms to hit the region in memory.” [Los Angeles Times, 1/8/25, 1/7/25]
    • Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley, who is the first woman and first openly LGBTQ person to serve in the role, said that “the fire is being fueled by a combination of strong winds and surrounding topography, which is making it extremely challenging for our personnel that are assigned to this incident.” She also said that the fires are “stretching the capacity of emergency services to their maximum limits.” [ABC7/KABC, 6/5/24; Los Angeles Times, 1/8/25, 1/8/25]
    • Right-wing media repeatedly used disasters in 2024 to baselessly attack diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. After a series of equipment malfunctions with Boeing passenger jets, right-wing media rushed to blame the failures on DEI policies. Several commentators also linked the Baltimore bridge collapse to DEI programs, declaring that “DEI equals die,” and Fox News' Jeanine Pirro recently responded to the New Orleans terror attack by calling the police chief “a DEI hire.” [Media Matters, 1/12/24, 1/25/24, 3/8/24, 7/15/24, 3/26/24, 3/30/24, 1/3/25]

  • Right-wing figures blamed the tragedy on LAFD's fire chief being an LGBTQ woman

    • Right-wing social media influencer Rogan O’Handley, known online as “DC_Draino,” posted pictures of Crowley and the New Orleans police chief — both women — and wrote, “DEI is quite literally getting people killed.” He added, “Bring back merit.” [Twitter/X, 1/8/25]
    • Gateway Pundit contributor Drew Hernandez wrote, “At least Los Angeles had its first lesbian fire chief. How’s that working out? DEI = DIE.” [Twitter/X, 1/8/25]
    • Anti-LGBTQ account Libs of TikTok, run by Chaya Raichik, posted a picture of Crowley and said, “She boasts about being the first female and LGBTQ fire chief in the LA Fire Department. Promoting a culture of DEI is her priority. Does this make you feel safer?” [Twitter/X, 1/8/25; The Washington Post, 4/19/22]
    • On his prime-time Fox News program, host Jesse Watters showed an image of three women leaders of the LAFD and said, “This is the leadership of the LA Fire Department — I sure hope they know what they’re doing,” while shaking his head, and later claimed that “California is committing suicide before our very eyes. DEI is deadly.” Watters also said the fire chief marched in Pride parades, adding, “Have all the pride you want, but you better make sure you’re ready to do your job when it counts,” and he also claimed that “California has a program to scrub white males from the fire department.” [Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, 1/8/25; Los Angeles Fire Department, accessed 1/9/25, 1/9/25]
    • Newsmax host Rob Finnerty suggested Crowley was hired only due to DEI and declared that “these are not once-in-a-generation wildfires. This is not climate change. This is death by DEI.” He said: “This is death by DEI once again, just like we saw last week in New Orleans with Ann Kirkpatrick, the DEI hire police chief. … In Los Angeles, it's the exact same story: death by DEI, this time with their brand new fire chief. … The first LGBTQ fire chief, something we can all hope to have in our own towns one day. The mayor even had her marching in the LA Pride parade in front of the fire engines. OK. Never mind that she's incompetent.” [Newsmax, Finnerty, 1/8/25]

  • Right-wing media figures blamed the Los Angeles fires on DEI

    • Far-right host Alex Jones posted that “DEI Equals societal collapse.” Jones was responding to a post about Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass visiting Ghana when the fires broke out. Local reporting noted that Bass was “in Accra this week as part of a delegation to celebrate the inauguration of Ghana President John Mahama,” but she “was on her way back to Los Angeles Wednesday morning as the city remained under siege from several major wildfires.” [Twitter/X, 1/8/25; KTLA 5, 1/8/25]
    • Posting about the fires, right-wing commentator Dave Rubin attacked DEI as “repackaged racism,” saying, “there is finite time and manpower, and if you choose to waste them on DEI your core competency will diminish.” Rubin added that “while there are a myriad of reasons these fires are so bad, even one day of the fire department wasting on hiring more minorities or sensitivity training is one too many.” [Twitter/X, 1/8/25, 1/8/25]
    • On Hannity, Fox News contributor Leo Terrell attacked “DEI nonsense that that LA Fire Department chief supports,” and he baselessly claimed that the LAFD has “no intention of putting out these fires.” [Fox News, Hannity, 1/8/25]
    • Right-wing pundit Mike Cernovich lamented that the “Los Angeles Fire Department chief is a DEI advocate.” In another post about the fires, Cernovich wrote that “DEI spells DIE.” [Twitter/X, 1/8/25, 1/8/25]
    • On Truth Social, Rumble host Donald Trump Jr. questioned, “Can we rename DEI to DIE since that’s what seems to happen to the people downstream of those who place woke virtue signaling far above competency?!?” [Truth Social, 1/8/25]
    • Right-wing activist Robby Starbuck asserted that “DEI has deadly consequences because ANY focus on it means resources stolen from the true mission of first responders saving lives” in response to a Libs of TikTok post saying that Crowley “is hailed as the first female and LGBTQ chief and says her priority is DEI.” He added, “Think of the money and time spent on DEI for LA Fire Dept. What if it was spent on more firefighters, water resources or infrastructure improvements?” Starbuck has reportedly “claimed success for pushing 15 public companies to change or abandon their DEI and LGBTQ policies.” [Twitter/X, 1/8/25; The Wall Street Journal, 1/7/25]
    • Responding to a Libs of TikTok post that said the “LA Fire Department’s first female LGBTQ chief created a DEI Bureau to train firefighters in DEI,” BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey asserted that “DEI is a tool of destruction everywhere it’s wielded. It literally leads to death.” She added: “Diversity is NOT a worthy goal in itself. Effectiveness is. And when you sacrifice effectiveness for diversity, especially within a fire department, police force or military unit, people will die. I’m tired of innocent people’s lives being placed on the altar of equity. Enough.” [Twitter/X, 1/8/25]
    • Right-wing social media figure Phillip Buchanan, known online as “Catturd,” wrote “Another massive DEI failure” in response to a video about Crowley seeking more women in the department. [Twitter/X, 1/8/25; Daily Dot, 11/17/23]
    • On his show, Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk called the wildfires “a major public policy disaster, and for people in California that have been voting for Democrats, this is what you get — you get mismanaged government, you get woke fire departments.” On social media, Kirk also lamented that Los Angeles had a “DEI fire chief.” [Real America’s Voice, The Charlie Kirk Show, 1/8/25; Twitter/X, 1/8/25]
    • An Infowars article titled “Lesbian Los Angeles Fire Chief Roasted For Prioritizing DEI As Palisades Inferno Destroys City” asserted that the “city’s DEI policies [are] harming the fire department.” The article ended by claiming that “California’s Democrat policies are openly harming its citizens.” [Infowars, 1/8/25]