Marvel Cinematic Universe star Samuel L. Jackson endorsed Karen Bass in her bid for reelection as Mayor of Los Angeles on Tuesday.
Jackson issued a video endorsement of Bass, hailing her as a “someone who understands government.”
“These are the times we need someone who understands government, who also understands the needs of the people,” said Jackson in the video. “Someone who will go on the streets and gather the people together. Not someone who will divide them. Karen Bass is that person. Karen Bass for mayor.”
Bass accepted Jackson’s endorsement in a post on social media.
“Honored to have the endorsement of my dear friend,” she wrote. “Sam has always shown up for the people and causes he believes in – and I am grateful he is showing up for Los Angeles. We’re aligned on the change I’m working to bring to L.A. That means getting more people off the streets into housing and connected with comprehensive services. It means more affordable housing units being built. And it means continuing to lower crime down to historic lows.”
Jackson’s endorsement of Bass as “someone who understands government” comes months after the Los Angeles Times reported that she ordered the watering down of the after-action report following the crippling wildfires of January 2025. As Breitbart News reported in December, an initial report from the LA Times noted that the famed after-action report released by the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) showed it had multiple deletions and redactions to provide a smoother picture than what happened:
In one instance, LAFD officials removed language saying that the decision not to fully staff up and pre-deploy all available crews and engines ahead of the extreme wind forecast “did not align” with the department’s policy and procedures during red flag days.
Another deleted passage in the report said that some crews waited more than an hour for an assignment the day of the fire. A section on “failures” was renamed “primary challenges,” and an item saying that crews and leaders had violated national guidelines on how to avoid firefighter deaths and injuries was scratched.
The first draft of the report in August, overseen by the then-interim Fire Chief Ronnie Villanueva after Mayor Karen Bass fired Kristin Crowley, also had side notes in the margins with suggestions to replace the cover page from a “negative” photo of flaming palm trees to a “positive” photo of firefighters hard at work. As many as seven drafts of the report were created before the final publication. No names were attached to the edited drafts.
According to a report from the Los Angeles Times, those edits were ordered by Mayor Karen Bass, most especially, regarding the city’s “failure not to fully staff up and pre-deploy all available engines ahead of dangerously high winds.” Though Mayor Karen Bass consistently denied ordering the edits, two sources indicated that she did:
Two sources with knowledge of Bass’ office said that after receiving an early draft, the mayor told then-interim Fire Chief Ronnie Villanueva that the report could expose the city to legal liabilities for those failures. Bass wanted key findings about the LAFD’s actions removed or softened before the report was made public, the sources said — and that is what happened.
The sources told The Times that two people close to Bass informed them of the mayor’s behind-the-scenes role in watering down the report. One source spoke to both of the people; the other spoke to one of them. The sources requested anonymity to speak frankly about the mayor’s private conversations with Villanueva and others.
One source flatly said that Bass “didn’t tell the truth when she said she had nothing to do with changing the report,” with the source saying that a confidant close to Bass said that altering the report “was a bad idea.”
The sources said that two confidants will testify under oath if the matter were to be litigated in court.
“All the changes [The Times] reported on were the ones Karen wanted,” a source said.
Bass’s office denied that the mayor ever demanded changes.