Speaking to Fox News from her airplane hangar Wednesday, Caitlyn Jenner shared a story that probably sounded like a fever dream to any American experiencing the uh, other side of income inequality during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“My friends are leaving California,” Jenner, the Olympian-turned-reality-TV-star-turned-Republican-gubernatorial-candidate, told Sean Hannity in her first televised interview since announcing her political aspirations last month. “My hangar, the guy across … he was packing up his hangar. I said, ‘Where are you going?’ And he says, ‘I’m moving to Sedona, Arizona. I can’t take it anymore. I can’t walk down the streets and see the homeless.”
“I don’t want to leave,” she said. “Either I stay and fight, or I get out of here.”
“Imagine being privileged enough to have the money to own a fucking PLANE HANGAR and whining because homeless people make you uncomfy rather than putting money or effort into fixing that problem,” another said.
“My friends are leaving California,” Jenner, the Olympian-turned-reality-TV-star-turned-Republican-gubernatorial-candidate, told Sean Hannity in her first televised interview since announcing her political aspirations last month. “My hangar, the guy across … he was packing up his hangar. I said, ‘Where are you going?’ And he says, ‘I’m moving to Sedona, Arizona. I can’t take it anymore. I can’t walk down the streets and see the homeless.”
“I don’t want to leave,” she said. “Either I stay and fight, or I get out of here.”
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It’s true: The state Jenner hopes to lead has a serious homelessness problem. Before the pandemic, an estimated 161,548 homeless people were living in California—a state with an acute affordable-housing crisis and giant wealth gap, as evidenced by people complaining about the poor from a private airplane hangar. Jenner, who’s looking to unseat Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom in a recall election, was promptly dragged for her comments to Fox News on social media. “‘The guy who parks his private jet next to mine is terrified by visual evidence of poor people existing’ is so on the nose I would consider it bad writing in satire,” one Twitter user wrote.
“Imagine being privileged enough to have the money to own a fucking PLANE HANGAR and whining because homeless people make you uncomfy rather than putting money or effort into fixing that problem,” another said.
According to Jenner’s campaign website, she’d address the homelessness crisis as governor by removing restrictions and regulations barring affordable housing development, and “unleash the power of our faith-based organizations to do what they do best: help people.”Also during the interview, Jenner criticized Newsom’s pandemic policies and what she saw as political hypocrisy from Democrats: Newsom dining at a fancy restaurant in November, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi going to a hair salon in September, for example. “I’m really fighting against the hypocrisy that’s going on,” Jenner said. “He’s been bad on every issue.”