A few weeks ago, Emily Ratajkowski’s movie producer husband, Sebastian Bear-McClard, was accused of being an all-around nightmare tenant. The model-actress had stayed silent on the subject, but now she’s taken to social media to defend him.
It all started in early March, when the New York Post reported that Bear-McClard has allegedly been residing in his 1,100-square-foot second-floor Bleecker Street apartment rent-free since 2017, thanks to a loophole in a state law. Loft Law, as it’s known, blocks landlords from evicting artists and low-income residents who had previously been residing illegally in commercial loft spaces for specific reasons, including if a building doesn’t have a certificate of occupancy. Bear-McClard’s building does not have this certificate.
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As anyone who has ever experienced the disaster of trying to find a halfway decent, affordable apartment in New York will understand, the very well-heeled couple’s neighbors and landlord aren’t thrilled with their use of the Loft Law. Bear-McClard’s landlord, Antoni Ghosh, who sublets the unit to the couple, claims the producer has been occupying the unit since 2013, but that the lease expired in 2017 and that Bear-McClard hasn’t paid the $4,900-a-month rent since. The landlord is alleging he is owed upwards of $120,000.
Ghosh is reportedly attempting to evict Bear-McClard and claiming he is a less-than-ideal neighbor who loves to throw late-night parties and blast music.
McClard’s attorney, Michael Kozek, told the Post that “Mr. McClard is fighting to save his home, which he has lived in for years.” He added, “He’s an artist. Born and raised New Yorker and a child of artists who themselves fought to save their homes, including under the Loft Law.”
Ratajkowski has now shared a series of tweets on the subject, starting with a correction pertaining to her husband’s age—she’d like you to know he is 38, not 31.
https://twitter.com/emrata/status/1110288511108694016
The model and actress also asserted that her husband isn’t actually that rich. “He’s an independent movie producer so people thinking he’s rich is real nice but not based in fact,” she tweeted. “He was raised in the neighborhood he lives in now, both of his parents are artists who were priced out of their homes in downtown New York.”
https://twitter.com/emrata/status/1110288608240398336
https://twitter.com/emrata/status/1110288638842011649
Still, even if he’s not a billionaire, it’s hard to believe that Bear-McClard—whose next movie, Uncut Gems, stars Adam Sandler and Lakeith Stanfield—is struggling to make ends meet.
But Ratajkowski is standing up for her husband. “I’m proud he’s fighting the good fight against a real estate conglomerate that bought the building he lives in for 40 million and has continued to spread misinformation on its tenants in order to profit. NYC has changed so much and it’s a shame that people…who work in creative fields are being moved out of the city.”
As W magazine notes, Ratajkowski doesn’t go so far as to admit that her husband isn’t paying rent, but she also won’t back down to the pressure that the couple, who are not starving artists by any stretch of the imagination, should be paying full rent for their home.
