Kim Kardashian got a stern rebuke from a well-established actor over her activism amid the devastating fires in Los Angeles.
The 44-year-old reality star was called out by Heat actor Danny Trejo on Wednesday during a conversation with TMZ.
Trejo, 80, took Kim to task for allegedly politicizing the disaster by bringing to light the plight of incarcerated firefighters who have been put to work battling the blaze.
Kim wrote on Instagram that the ‘hundreds’ of incarcerated firefighters in the field, and they make only between $5.80 and $10.24 per hour, according to the California Department of Corrections’ website.
The social media star noted that they make only $1 more per hour in emergency situations, like the current fire fight — which has ‘never been raised with inflation’ — despite doing incredibly dangerous work.
Trejo — who has first-hand knowledge of the situation after spending a decade in prison on and off and reportedly working as a firefighter while behind bars — objected that it wasn’t the right time for Kim to be talking about incarcerated firefighter compensation.
Kim Kardashian, 44, got a stern rebuke from a well-established actor over her activism amid the devastating fires in Los Angeles. The reality star was called out by Heat actor Danny Trejo, 80, on Wednesday during a conversation with TMZ
Trejo object to Kim allegedly politicizing the LA fires by mentioning the low pay of incarcerated firefighters battling the blazes
‘Right now, as far as inmates getting paid — pros, cons, whatever — it’s like, right now, Kim, worry about the people that lost everything,’ Trejo said.
‘You’ve still go everything!’ he added, urging her to focus on those who had ‘absolutely nothing but the clothes on their back’ after losing the possessions in the fires.
He went as far as to claim the ‘people in jail’ were ‘fine.’
The Machete star blasted the trend of ‘everybody need[ing] a cause’ and he started to slam convicts for ‘committing a [crime],’ before he stopped himself.
‘I hate saying this! I was a criminal,’ he said with a laugh.
‘Guys, I’m sorry, but just put out the damn fire and then we’ll figure out what to do,’ he continued between chuckles.
Incarcerated firefighters haven’t seen the pay for the job go up since 1984, and Kim — who has been blasted for wasting large amounts of water amid California’s draughts — noted that a proposal to bump the emergency bonus pay for the firefighters from an additional $1 per hour to $5 per hour had been shot down.
But Trejo pointed out that the value of doing the job for prisoners is worth more than just the pay itself — which is considerably more than what inmates earn doing other jobs at prison.
‘Right now, as far as inmates getting paid — pros, cons, whatever — it’s like, right now, Kim, worry about the people that lost everything,’ Trejo said; pictured in 2023 in West Hollywood
Trejo, who spent years behind bars before becoming an in-demand actor — and who once reportedly worked as an incarcerated firefighter — claimed most inmate pay would go toward restitutions, so he didn’t think a pay increase mattered; still from Machete Kills (2013)
The firefighters make only $5.80 to $10.24 per hour, with $1 extra per hour in emergencies, but Kim called for a plan to raise the bonus to $5 per hour to be implemented; seen in November in LA
Incarcerated firefighters — who must come from minimum security prisons, have a lack of disciplinary infractions and must have less than five years remaining on their sentences — can get time taken off of their sentences by volunteering to fight fires.
The job is also one of the only available to inmates that only accepts volunteers, as prisoners can’t be forced to join the firefighting teams, though some may feel coerced to do the dangerous work because of a desire to make more money or get out of prison sooner.
Trejo dismissed calls for more pay for incarcerated firefighters, as he claimed most of their pay would go toward restitution that they owe, though presumably higher pay would get them closer to paying off their debts or leave them more money beyond those fees once they are released.
Incarcerated firefighters have some freedoms that other inmates don’t have, as they li
ve in outdoor camps when they’re battling fires, rather than in their assigned prison, and they are usually not actively followed around by guards when they are working on fires.
The inmates tend to work in 24-hour shifts, followed by a day off, though the schedule can be more hectic in emergencies like LA’s current fires.
Unlike traditional firefighters who learn how to manage hoses and to rescue people from burning buildings, incarcerated firefighters work out in nature to hack down brush and dig trenches to create breaks in wildfires.
However, they do receive training from Cal Fire, and they may be eligible to work for the operation after being released, even with a felony conviction.
Some incarcerated firefighters will even be able to have their convictions expunged after serving on the firefighting teams, which may make it easier to get other jobs in the future.
Firefighters must come from minimum-security prisons and can only have sentences of less than five years. They’re eligible to get time knocked off their sentences and possibly can get their convictions expunged
The firefighters may also be able to get jobs with Cal Fire, which trains them, after being released
Trejo concluded with harsh words about ‘arsonists’ who may have started the fires. However, there’s no evidence so far that arsonists started them, but power companies in the area are being investigated for potentially sparking the fires; seen in 2021 in LA
Trejo concluded by warning potential arsonists that they are comparable to ‘molesters’ in terms of the severity of their offense.
‘This is not a good crime,’ he said, though there’s no indication so far that the massive fires in LA have been started by arsonists.
He compared arson unfavorably to a crimes considered more ‘glamorous’ by inmates, like ‘armed robbery’ of a bank, where the money stolen is insured.
By contrast, Trejo said arson creates only ‘pain, anguish [and] sorrow.’
The actor spent years in trouble with the law after doing his first drug deal at seven and being arrested for the first time at just 10.
He as in and out of prison the late 1950s and ’60s, before being released after serving five years of a 10-year sentence in 1069.
During his time in prison, Trejo got sober and earned his high school diploma, and he later became a substance-abuse counselor.
Trejo got into acting in the mid-’80s, and he went on to have parts in modern classics including Desperado, Heat, From Dusk Till Dawn and The Devil’s Rejects, among many others.
Instead, the power company Edison International is being investigated over claims that a downed conductor could have started one of the fires.
Multiple lawsuits have since been filed against Southern California Edison over claims that the power company sparked the Eaton fire, which has devastated Altadena and Pasadena.
So far, 24 people have died as a result of the LA fires, and more than 180,000 people have been forced to evacuate.
