Mayor Karen Bass is catching heat from all sides after telling CNN she thought Casey Wasserman "should step down" as chair of LA28, the organizing committee for the 2028 Olympics. The comment lit up social media, where critics quickly flipped the script and began calling for Bass herself to resign. It also poured gasoline on lingering anger over last year's Palisades Fire and the disputed edits to the city's after-action review. With Bass facing re-election this year, the fight over who should be running the Olympics has turned into a full-blown political headache.
What the mayor said
In a CNN interview Monday, Bass said, "My opinion is that he should step down," adding that she did not have the authority to fire Wasserman, as reported by NBC Los Angeles. She told CNN she wanted the city "completely prepared" for the 2028 Games and criticized the LA28 board's decision to keep its chair in place. The board, in turn, said it had brought in outside counsel to review Wasserman's past interactions before deciding to stand by him.
Wasserman's emails and fallout
The uproar traces back to documents from the Justice Department's recent Epstein files release, which included 2003 emails between Wasserman and Ghislaine Maxwell containing flirtatious language. Wasserman said he "deeply regrets" the exchanges, according to The Guardian. The controversy has already cost him clients and rattled his agency internally, and he has said he will begin the process of selling the Wasserman Group, reporting compiled by TheWrap found.
Online backlash
Bass's decision to publicly call for Wasserman to step aside did not land quietly. Some residents and social-media users responded by turning their criticism on the mayor, circulating posts and petitions that urged her to step down after she weighed in on LA28 leadership. The New York Post collected several of those calls and highlighted X posts demanding Bass's resignation in the wake of the interview. One X user wrote, "I call on Mayor Bass to step down after her repeated failures before, during and after the Palisades fire," the New York Post reported.
Palisades report still haunts city hall
The latest flare-up also dragged last year's Palisades Fire back into the spotlight. A Los Angeles Times investigation found multiple drafts of the fire department's after-action report had been edited to soften criticism of top officials, and sources told the paper the mayor's office pushed for changes. Bass's office has denied directing edits. The dispute over the report, along with broader questions about the city's fire response, has already fueled petitions and political attacks, leaving the mayor's decisions under heightened scrutiny as the Olympics approach, according to the Times and follow-up coverage by local outlets.
What is next
For now, LA28 and city officials say they will keep coordinating for 2028 while trying to contain the reputational fallout. The LA28 executive committee says it reviewed Wasserman's conduct and will keep him in place, a decision that leaves the political pressure squarely on Bass rather than Olympic leadership, per reporting by TheWrap. The dust-up is likely to resurface at council hearings and on the campaign trail as the city edges toward the 2026 ballot.
