Devastating fires have torn through Southern California, including the formerly beautiful and ritzy neighborhood of Pacific Palisades and the stunningly beautiful Malibu coast, causing potentially billions of dollars of damages and killing numerous people, with reportedly empty water reservoirs, fire hydrants running dry, and awful wind conditions exacerbating the damage and destruction.
Making the incident all the worse for those in the Los Angeles area who have been impacted by the fires is that for some of the days of the fire, as they started raging out of control, the mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass was out of town. In fact, she was out of the country, being in Ghana rather than LA. She has since been attacked for being MIA as the fires began and for the disastrous response to the fires, but that criticism has since been called “sexist” by woke Hollywood celebrities.
For reference, Bass was in the West African country of Ghana for the inauguration of its President John Dramani Mahama on Saturday. Jan 4. She departed for the country on that day, and was out of the country as the fire raged through the Palisades, leading to much outcry and criticism. She didn’t return to LA until Thursday, January 9.
A petition has since surfaced in connection to the matter and received over 120,000 verified signatures, with those signing it declaring, “We, the undersigned residents of Los Angeles and concerned citizens, urgently call for the immediate recall of Mayor Karen Bass due to her gross mismanagement and failure to effectively respond to the devastating 2025 fires in and around the city of Los Angeles.”
It continues, “In the wake of these catastrophic fires, our city has been left in crisis. Water supplies have been severely strained, billions of taxpayer dollars have been misallocated or left unaccounted for, and countless lives have been lost. Families have been displaced, homes destroyed, and livelihoods shattered—yet Mayor Bass has been absent from the frontlines, choosing to travel abroad while her constituents suffer.”
It further adds, “Despite the tireless efforts of our first responders, the city has been woefully unprepared to ensure the safety and well-being of its residents. Basic resources, such as water and emergency services, have been inadequate, and leadership has been nowhere to be found when it was needed most.”
Then, getting to the demands section, it adds, “We demand: 1. The immediate resignation of Mayor Karen Bass due to her failure to lead during this unprecedented crisis. 2. A full, transparent investigation into the failures in disaster preparedness, response, and resource allocation that left our city vulnerable. 3. Accountability for the mismanagement of taxpayer funds intended for disaster relief and recovery. 4. A comprehensive plan for ensuring the safety of all Angelenos in the face of future disasters. The people of Los Angeles deserve a leader who is present, accountable, and actively working to protect and serve our community. Mayor Bass’s actions—or lack thereof—have shown she is unfit for the office she holds.”
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In response, longtime actresses Yvette Nicole Brown and Kym Whitley went on the attack against the petition and criticism, declaring that those attacking Mayor Bass are doing so for sexist reasons. Brown told TMZ, “She’s got a spine of steel, and she’s been a black woman in America for a really long time. None of this is new.” Watch her here:
Continuing, with Whitley standing alongside her as she did so, Brown suggested that it is because of the mayor’s race and gender that she is facing such criticism. She said, “We have fires every year, and I don’t remember in the almost 30 years that I’ve lived in LA, I’ve never seen everybody react like this to the mayor and blame one person for a natural disaster. Now what’s different this time?”
Whitley then chimed in, saying, “Stand behind her, support her, because you can see it in her face she stays calm/ Think about this, she has the city to take care of, she doesn’t have time to hear what these reports are saying.” She added, “This is not the time to blame, it’s time to get some resources, she has reached out far. We have planes coming in from other countries to help us.”
Watch Governor Newsom try to pass blame for the fire here:
Featured image credit: By Karen Bass For Mayor – https://www.flickr.com/photos/194058440@N03/52034114048/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=119329831