Several weeks ago, there was a weird story going around the New York gossip media. Emily Ratajkowski married Sebastian Bear-McClard last year, after only dating him for about a month (tops). She moved in with him at his Noho loft. The story going around was that Sebastian – an independent film producer – was not paying his rent on the loft, and that he and Emily were basically indigent tenants living rent-free in a spacious loft for no real reason. Sebastian apparently owes more than $120K in back-rent, only he’s claimed protection under the Loft Law:
Filmmaker Sebastian Bear-McClard, who’s worth an estimated $12 million, has allegedly stiffed the landlord out of $120,000 for the unit at 49 Bleecker St. since 2017, claiming protection under the state’s Loft Law, a building rep said.
“Here is a prime example, in prime NYC real estate, where an uber-wealthy celebrity couple and tenant can take advantage and exploit a law that was intended for truly struggling artists and low-income families in need of affordable housing,” said Carolyn Daly, spokeswoman for a coalition of loft building owners that includes 49 Bleecker. Bear-McClard, 31, who married “Blurred Lines” music-video dancer Ratajkowski, 27, last year, has subletted the 1,100 square-foot pad on the second floor of the former manufacturing building since 2013, court records show. After his lease expired in 2017, he hasn’t paid a penny of the $4,900 monthly rent since then, claims lease holder Antoni Ghosh in Manhattan Civil Court. Daly said what Bear-McClard currently owes is “now over $120,000.”
A state law enacted in 1982 prevented landlords from booting artists and other low-income tenants who lived illegally in commercial loft spaces. It said they couldn’t be evicted if their building didn’t have a certificate of occupancy or installed fire and other safety protections. The Bleecker Street building doesn’t have the certificate.
So it was a weird story, and I had no idea that Loft Laws were even a thing. I didn’t know Sebastian and Emily were up to all of that. Well, now, weeks later, Emily has responded to the reporting. She tweeted this:
“Husband is 38, not 31. He’s an independent movie producer so people thinking he’s rich is real nice but not based in fact. 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. I moved in w/ him a year ago. 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.”
New York real estate drama, I’m glad I don’t have to deal with that. I think all things can be true at once: real estate corporations are trying to price out struggling artists AND Sebastian is kind of an a–hole for not paying his rent for years. Oh well.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
“Blurred Lines” music-video dancer”
LOLOLOLOLO.
And her husband is worth 12 mil but is claiming refuge under a starving artist law?
Riiiight.
I just cannot with his mouth.
It honestly looks like a cat’s butthole…
hahahahahahahaha!!!!
What the heck is going on with his lips????
Seriously! It just dominates his face. And not in an interesting way.
They look so in love 🙄
I am a big believer in not judging people by their appearance, but that goes by the wayside when I look at this man. He gives me the skeeves.
She really should have held out for a rich old guy. Maybe that’s her plan for husband number two.
I kind of wish she and Channing Tatum had dated instead.
Wait, what?
So she’s defending him. Big losers. Grifters like Trump, but now it’s “smart” to be a grifter, no matter how wealthy you are, and screw other people out of money you owe them. How is this an American value? Defrauding people, shameless, not paying taxes, etc. This used to be the bad guy, the villain, that the little guy was valiantly fighting against. Now the villain is the hero. And the little guy now admires the villain. So effed up. Plus, he’s sucked all the hotness from her. Her face is so ordinary.
If you think grifters are a uniquely American phenomenon, you must not be too well-travelled.
I don’t think Janet thinks that, she probably lives in the US and using it as her frame of reference cause of that
I live in a rural New England town in which people whose families have lived there for generations have been priced out. Tough.
Just because you grew up in a loft in Soho doesn’t mean you are entitled to continue living there as an adult if you do not have the means.
I’m so glad they’re fighting the good fight. She’s so intelligent and proactive for beautiful women everywhere. It’s very important to note her bulging bewbs are feminist, both right and left. Politically superior boobage. I’m in awe.
I’m just in awe of all the always intelligent, ever woke, truly compassionate, so so kind Good Girls out there making things better for womankind by putting thots in their place on the regular. The ‘Not That Kind of Girl’ routine is truly revolutionary futuristic feminist stuff that really promotes equality. Some women r more equal than others, and why shouldn’t bitchy older modest women hog the movement for themselves or their groomed, brainwashed young acolytes? Hymens are the real feminists. Those other classy women and girls- you know, the ones who prefer sexually modest choices for themselves but still manage to not be assholes to women who choose differently? They’re weak AF. God is a woman.
Do what now??? He can’t afford his rent so instead of moving to a place within his means he’s just gonna live there for nothing? No attempts whatsoever to make a payment towards back rent? That doesn’t sound like someone who is trying to make it work; rather, it sounds like someone who has decided rules and rent don’t apply to them.
He’s entitled – remember, she said he “grew up in that neighborhood”???? And she’s moved in now because she’s also entitled! They are both entitled by legacy of his artistic parents and …. oh hell, I can’t finish this lolllll.
Wait, wait, wait. They’re legally married, and that’s her legal residence as well? Why does she think she’s not responsible for the rent as well?
Also, sure, the rent is crazy and the uber-rich are buying up everything, but…he still signed a lease to live there, is still living there, and can’t just decide not to pay because he doesn’t like the new owners. Sorry, the world doesn’t work that way. If they can’t afford it, they need to move. End of story.
Shrute, absolutely right. Lucy 2, also 100 percent right. I don’t even get what their “side” is even supposed to be. “We’re rich and we don’t pay rent. Eat it.” ????? It’s like Trump charging the Secret Service exorbitant rents in his own buildings in order to protect him. Skeezing right through life with only adulation, not condemnation. Beats the heck out of me. Can someone explain this to me?
They both look high as a kite, barely cognizant of where they are. I get the feeling they are just hanging on financially, so I see them getting evicted and then a messy split.
Samesies!
“People thinking he’s rich is real nice but not based in fact”
Something tells me SHE thought he was REAL RICH and had learned it’s not based in fact.
Is the rock on her ring BASED IN FACT?
Lol he sounds like the worst kind of a-hole
Always lamenting about NYC “before” and claiming some kind of authentic ownership to it 🙄
She’s a fool and is trying to save face. They’ll be done by summer.
I’m confused because Google shows his age as 32. Not that it’s relevant to him not paying rent but…where did she get 38? Am I misreading something?