Jakarta. Indonesian TV host and parliament member Surya "Uya Kuya" Utama and his wife, Astrid, have faced criticism for filming at the site of the Los Angeles wildfires. The couple, accused of exploiting the tragedy for personal gain, insisted they were only trying to provide accurate information amid widespread misinformation about the incident.

“We wanted to depict the reality of what happened since there were so many hoaxes and AI-generated videos about the fires in LA,” Astrid Kuya told Beritasatu.com on Sunday.

The controversy began after the couple was confronted by residents whose home had been destroyed in the fire. Critics accused Uya Kuya of showing a lack of empathy by creating content at the scene.

The family denied any intention of profiting from the footage and expressed understanding of the victims’ frustration, which they attributed to widespread scams exploiting the disaster.

“Perhaps they thought we were scammers pretending to be fire victims to solicit donations for personal benefit because they didn’t understand our language,” Astrid explained.

Despite their intentions, the couple apologized for the misunderstanding and vowed to learn from the experience.

“We apologize for the commotion and any mistakes we made. This has been a valuable lesson for us. At the time, we immediately stopped filming and deleted the footage,” Astrid added.

Uya and Astrid's Los Angeles home is safe from the disaster.

Separately, on Jan. 12, Cinta Rahmania Putri, the daughter of Uya Kuya, organized a social aid event to assist victims of the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles. Alongside friends from Indonesia and Thailand, Cinta, affectionately known as Cinta Kuya, distributed food and beverages to evacuees at the Pasadena Convention Center.

As of Sunday, firefighters continue battling two major blazes in the Los Angeles area, the Palisades and Eaton fires. Since igniting during fierce winds on Jan. 7, the fires have destroyed more than 14,000 structures. Fire officials reported that the Palisades fire was 52 percent contained on Sunday, while the Eaton fire was 81 percent contained.

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