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Scott Galloway is going viral for brutally summing up Los Angeles as the world’s “most successful failed nation state,” — and plenty of Angelenos seem to think he’s right.
In a fiery Instagram rant that’s exploded online, the NYU professor and podcast host painted LA as a glittering capitalist dystopia where billionaires, homeless people, influencers and fading Hollywood dreams somehow coexist in the same traffic jam.
“This is a city where you can be waiting in line with a Saudi Prince, a hedge fund manager, a failed actor and a TikTok star, and you’re all in line for the same $24 smoothie,” Galloway quipped in the video.
Galloway, a UCLA alum who often oscillates between affection and disdain for the West Coast, described Los Angeles as “peak capitalism,” with a large number of billionaire residents and even more homeless.
The “Notes on Being a Man” author seemed to capture the strange contradictions of modern Los Angeles— a city where luxury grocers like Erewhon thrive while tent encampments line nearby streets.
“I love your analogies.. they just make so much sense to me,” one online commentator posted on Instagram.
“I’ve felt the brutality of Los Angeles but it still blows me away all of it coexisted with the sublime,” another added.
Despite the decline of the entertainment industry and traditional Hollywood studio, claiming it has become “a shadow of itself,” Galloway noted that LA continues to thrive on a different kind of currency: “Illusion.”
“The city is run on delusion,” Galloway said. “But delusion plus ambition can create a lot of shareholder value.”
However, it wasn’t all vitriol.
The “Prof G” creator balanced his critique by highlighting the city’s massive logistical importance, reminding his 1.7 million Instagram followers that a significant percentage of the nation’s container traffic flows through the Port of Los Angeles, making it a critical artery for the American economy. “So that air fryer, fake Rolex and Peloton that you have probably came through San Pedro,” he said
He also tipped his hat to his alma mater, calling UCLA “the finest public institution in the world.”
Still, Galloway saved his sharpest barb for the cost of living in the City of Angels. “I would describe it as absolutely the best city in the world to make a living — as long as you don’t need the money.”
“I really appreciate what you have to say,” an Instagram user commented. “LA is always betrayed as a hell scape when it really is one of the greatest cities on earth.”
Still, in a video recorded from the balcony of a hotel in Beverly Hills, Galloway maintained that Los Angeles remains his “favorite place to visit in the world.”
