Why bizarre AI cover of Spencer Pratt and LA mayoral rival sparked fury at Los Angeles magazine

Los Angeles Magazine released a truly bonkers cover for its Special Election Issue on Thursday, with an AI-created depiction of mayoral candidates Nithya Raman and Spencer Pratt posing together.

Sources tell Page Six Hollywood that the AI collage was created by none other than the magazine’s co-owner, famed defense attorney Mark Geragos, and the move has staffers in shock.

In the made-up pic, Raman and Pratt are moodily posing together looking like they’re starring in a new “Dynasty” reboot produced by “True Blood” creator Alan Ball. Behind them, a Los Angeles hill is dramatically burning in the distance as a giant Ghana flag waves. (It took us a couple guesses to get that reference right, but our junior high geography teacher would be proud nevertheless!)

On the cover, the AI version of Pratt is wearing a chain around his neck with a blingy golden garbage can pendant, while Raman’s jewelry has a charm that says “DSA” for the Democratic Socialists of America. (The garbage can charm is a nod to Pratt’s viral, anti-Karen Bass “take out the trash” ad featuring that odd earworm, “Spencer, Saca La Basura!” by a group dubbed Latinos por Pratt.)

Page Six Hollywood has learned that the creator of the totally zany cover image was not the mag’s art director or an outside agency, but Geragos, who bought Los Angeles Magazine in 2022 with another attorney, Ben Meiselas.

Geragos’ AI cover image has apparently sent the Los Angeles Magazine editorial staff into absolute conniptions.

A source told us that Geragos — whose legal clients have included Michael Jackson, Winona Ryder, Colin Kaepernick and the Menendez brothers, among others — met a lot of resistance when he pitched the AI image, with staffers wondering, “How can you do this?”

“He thought people in the building were going to stab him,” said one insider of the idea’s popularity within the Los Angeles offices.

The California Post endorsed Pratt for mayor on Friday.

Geragos hatched the plan, we hear, after the magazine invited the real Raman, Pratt and Bass to appear on its cover, but the trio refused to pose together.

Geragos ended up choosing Raman and Pratt as his AI models, while Bass was somehow left out in lieu of that giant Ghana flag, representing the mayor’s ill-fated trip to the West Africa country when the devastating wildfires broke out.

The cover was trolled online on Thursday when it was released: The Wrap posted a piece with the headline: “Los Angeles Magazine Shredded for Its AI Created Mayors Race Cover: ‘So Stupid I’m in Shock.'”

Los Angeles mag wrote in an X post unveiling the issue, “The cover is fake. The crisis is real. Whether you love it, hate it, question it or can’t stop looking at it… this is the L.A. we’re living in.” An activist group called People’s City Council LA posted in response: “Why use AI? real pictures of these people exist. A graphic designer could’ve done this cover relatively quickly… this type of s–t is why people don’t f–k with LA mag.” (We’d list more of the X comments, but, just trust us, most had the word “f–k” in them.)

Spencer Pratt is seen at a BBQ meet and greet on May 20, 2026 in Los Angeles. GC Images

One Los Angeles Magazine staffer who is backing Geragos’ AI cover is Ellina Abovian — the on-air TV reporter laid off in February from KTLA the day before her 40th birthday, who just recently landed a new gig as editor-in-chief of digital content at the storied Southern California mag.

In an Instagram video she says of her fist issue, “This cover, as I’m sure you can tell, was very intentionally made by AI. Because in a way, like it or not, this is LA’s political reality right now. Originally we wanted to shoot this cover with all the major candidates… but they didn’t want to be featured together, they didn’t want to be photographed together. So we created our own cover — a cover that has a message, and we feel this is a very accurate portrayal of the moment we’re in right now.”

She added of the Geragos-created cover and its missing mayor: “And then there’s Mayor Bass. She’s not on the cover, but symbolically she’s very present here. Everything she’s had to deal with over the last few months is here. You see it in the details: The Ghana flag in the background, you see it in the LA palm trees on fire. The trash can hanging from Spencer Pratt’s neck is a nod to the way she has been portrayed in some of his own campaign videos. And these videos are being seen by millions of people so even in her absence, she’s still a part of the story.” Okurr!

After revealing the AI creation, the mag also released a social media post of Abovian and Los Angeles Magazine publisher Christopher Gialanella going around town, comically trying to hand-deliver the new issue to Raman and Pratt unsuccessfully.

Abovian has said on Instagram that she’ll be the new face of the magazine, which Geragos andMeiselasacquired in 2022 for a reported $6 million.

In its first 60 years, Los Angeles had nine editors; in just the last four years there have been at least three. Maer Roshan was running Los Angeles when Geragos acquired the mag, but was axed months later over editorial differences. He’s now running The Hollywood Reporter.