LOS ANGELES — Right-wing influencer Benny Johnson escalated his feud with Gavin Newsom with a video that he said showed a stretch of LA looking like “a third world hellscape” — just days after the governor made a gross jab about the married Johnson being on Grindr.
“This cost $24 billion dollars? You’re proud of this?” Johnson wrote on X, alongside a video of a man riding a bike through Skid Row.
“California in the Gavin-era is a third world hellscape.”
The video titled “Riding in Los Angeles at Night” was originally posted by YouTuber John Hicks, who rides through different neighborhoods and documents what he sees. In the video, Hicks shows streets piled with trash and other signs of urban decay.
The video racked up nearly 250,000 views on TikTok — it later surged to more than 800,000 views after Johnson circulated it on X.
Johnson’s post came after Newsom’s office pushed back on viral claims that the state had “lost” $24 billion meant to combat homelessness.
The governor responded directly, accusing Johnson of spreading misinformation and referencing a Wall Street Journal report that said the influencer had been backed by wealthy donors to amplify pro-Trump messaging. His administration touted a 9 percent decline in homeless numbers in the state.
“The same Benny Johnson who took money from Russia and was exposed in the WSJ today for being backed by billionaires to spread pro-Trump propaganda is now peddling a previously debunked falsehood,” Newsom posted.
“Unsheltered homelessness is down 9%!”
Johnson fired back with a scorched-earth reply, accusing Newsom of presiding over decades of decline while enriching political allies.
“You have spent the last 28 years in office promising to fix stuff,” Johnson wrote. “Have things gotten better or worse for California since then?”
The blowup is the latest chapter in a feud between Johnson and Newsom that has been simmering since the beginning of the month.
“The fraud uncovered in Minnesota was very bad,” Johnson wrote on X. “But Gavin Newsom’s California is far worse.”
He said he plans to travel to the state to investigate what he claims is fraud tied to homelessness spending.
The governor’s press office responded to the post, saying, “We’ll make sure Grindr servers are ready….”
That response — from Newsom, who led the national charge by performing same-sex marriages as mayor of San Francisco — drew gasps and criticism, including from some who branded the attack “homophobic.”
The remark appeared to allude to online claims of outages of the gay hookup app during a high-profile conservative event involving Charlie Kirk, as well as a jab at rumors circulating about Johnson.
Johnson vowed to sue those who “maliciously defame” him.
