As if Hollywood’s elite didn’t have enough to be worried about, the Governor they elected, and whose homelessness laws and fire department defunding is allegedly partly responsible for the catastrophe, has now responded to claims that he is not cracking down hard enough on looters by saying that, ‘Bad actors will be arrested and prosecuted.’

Within hours of this statement being made, many Pacific Palisades residents whose homes were unaffected by the fires abandoned them and were seen driving across the Mexican border.

But many people have welcomed Governor Newsom’s statement, describing his decision as one that is long overdue. ‘You don’t have to live here to see the evidence,’ one resident told us through tears. ‘You just have to turn on your TV. Nobody in the mainstream media wants to say this, but substandard performances across most areas of TV shows and movies have been building up for years, and frankly, this was a disaster waiting to happen.’

Los Angeles’ substantial Jewish population is believed to be especially vulnerable. ‘I blame Mad Men,’ said a prominent rabbi. ‘That was the first time a leading role was given to a man who couldn’t act. Since then the casting of hams has become so prevalent that it’s hard not to see it as deliberate policy of antisemitism.’

According to a Screen Actors Guild spokesperson the threat is much wider. ‘Everyone knows how hard it is for actors to get a break in this town, and it’s true that many of those who can’t land high-paying porn roles are forced to do quite demeaning work. But Governor Newsom’s assumption that such people would stoop to looting is deeply offensive. And it’s also double standards. For some time now, under his administration, shoplifting has not been an arrestable offence in California because it’s done by poor people. So we shouldn’t be arresting people for looting simply because they’re poor actors. We should at the very least give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that they’re researching a role.’

Rumours that the government is now compiling a list of actors whose acting ability – or lack of it – constitutes a menace to society may or may not be true. It’s certainly not true that Governor Newsom has asked that one of the planes dispensing fire retardant be diverted to drop some on his own house to reduce the chance of him getting fired. But it’s no exaggeration to say that with this latest public statement, Gavin Newsom represents the biggest threat to Hollywood since McCarthyism.