Karen Bass Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Charna Flam Austin Majors, a former child actor best known for his role in “NYPD Blue,” died Saturday in Los Angeles. Major’s death was confirmed by LA country Medical Examiner-Coroner. He was 27. He had been living at a downtown Los Angeles facility for homeless individuals, and appeared in the Los Angeles Daily News last week when L.A. mayor Karen Bass toured the facility. His sister Kali remembered him, writing on Facebook, “My big brother, Austin, is gone. He died last night. It’s so surreal to me still. He was only 27 with so much life left to live.” Major’s family also issued a statement to TMZ, saying “[Austin] was a loving, artistic, brilliant, and kind human being. Austin took great joy and pride in his acting career. He was an active Eagle Scout and graduated Salutatorian in High School. He went on to graduate from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts with a passion of directing and music producing.”

UPDATED, 4:10 PM: The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday followed Mayor Karen Bass and the City Council in approving a declaration of emergency over the local homelessness situation. “Today’s unanimous action by the board honors the November mandate from L.A. County voters: Lead with urgency and transparency to address the homelessness crisis in every neighborhood,” Supervisor Lindsey P. Horvath said in a statement following the vote.”

Giving back. Nick Cannon was joined by Brittany Bell and their son Golden, 5, and daughter Powerful, 2, at the Los Angeles Mission to serve unhoused people on Friday, December 23.

Mayor Karen Bass rescinded former Mayor Eric Garcetti’s final executive directive that would have created a program to illuminate the Hollywood sign, a representative for Bass confirmed today.

In a statement fact obvious to every resident, the Los Angeles City Council voted to ratify a state of emergency on homelessness today, confirming newly-elected Mayor Karen Bass’ first official act.

UPDATED, 4:15 PM: Rep. Karen Bass has defeated developer Rick Caruso in the race for Los Angeles Mayor, becoming the first woman to lead the city. With 70% of the vote tallied, the latest update from the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County shows Bass with an insurmountable lead of more than 46,500 votes over Caruso.

Early results tonight in the hard-fought race to become the next mayor of Los Angeles were close, with developer Rick Caruso leading Rep. Karen Bass by less than 2,000 votes with 12% of the votes in.

Political kingmaker Jeffrey Katzenberg said he thinks the 2024 presidential election will see President Joe Biden facing off, once again, with Donald Trump.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer As his term in office winds down, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has kept a low profile. But he spoke at a recent downtown luncheon and offered some advice to the next mayor — whether it’s Karen Bass or Rick Caruso. “The top three issues for my successor — it’s housing, it’s housing and it’s housing,” Garcetti said. “There is no issue more important than housing.” Bass is leading Caruso by a significant margin in the polls, and so she in particular has been getting a lot of advice lately. Among her most influential supporters is Jeffrey Katzenberg, the Hollywood mogul who has spent $1.85 million to boost her campaign — making him her largest single financier.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor Rick Caruso is confident that he’s going to be the next mayor of Los Angeles.  “I’m getting the job,” he says with a grin before sitting down to detail his vision for the future of the entertainment industry in Los Angeles in an interview with Variety‘s “Strictly Business.”  The real estate developer who is behind such retail destinations as the Grove and Glendale’s the Americana is vying against Congresswoman Karen Bass for the job of leading the nation’s second largest city at a time when L.A. is beset with crises — most acutely, the growing ranks of the unhoused.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer SAG-AFTRA on Monday called for the resignations of three Los Angeles council members and the president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, after the council president was caught on tape making racist and homophobic remarks. The actors’ union joined a chorus of outrage that followed the leak on Sunday of an hourlong conversation, in which Council President Nury Martinez disparaged indigenous Mexicans and made racist remarks about the three-year-old Black son of a fellow council member. “Racism and homophobia have no place in the labor movement, government or society,” the actors’ union said in a statement. “All leaders must be held to a higher standard that centers on anti-racism and immediately calls out discrimination and hateful comments in the moment.”

Actors’ Equity has endorsed Karen Bass for mayor of Los Angeles, marking the first time the union’s National Council has ever voted to endorse an L.A. mayoral candidate. The 51,000-member union has more than 7,000 living in Los Angeles. If elected, Bass would be the city’s first female mayor. Polls show her leading real estate developer Rick Caruso.

Los Angeles’ homeless problem, the lack of affordable housing, and public safety dominated the first and only televised mayoral debate Wednesday between billionaire developer Rick Caruso and Congresswoman Karen Bass.Both candidates agreed that homelessness is wrecking the city, and when asked to describe the state of the city in one word, Bass chose the word “crisis.” Caruso said: “We’re beyond crisis.” Caruso said he would “call a state of emergency” to help get people off the street and into shelters. “We have people living and dying on the streets,” he said. “The premise is to get them into shelters and get them safe.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer Karen Bass announced a fresh round of celebrity endorsements on Monday, as she looks to highlight her ties to the entertainment industry in her campaign for L.A. mayor. Bass’ supporters include actors America Ferrera, Kerry Washington and Colman Domingo — all of whom have been involved in Democratic politics on the national level in recent years. Bass is running against Rick Caruso, who has also emphasized his Hollywood ties during the campaign, including support from Gwyneth Paltrow, Kim Kardashian and Katy Perry. Both candidates have vowed to be an advocate for the film and TV industry, which receives $330 million annually in California tax credits. A bill to extend the credit for an additional five years was postponed until next year, meaning the city’s new mayor may have an opportunity to weigh in on it.

The rising crime rate in Los Angeles is a hot-button issue in this year’s race for Los Angeles mayor. And the issue just hit closer to home for one candidate.

Katharine McPhee left her expensive jewelry at home while shopping in Beverly Hills today with husband David Foster and she’s explaining why.

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris jointly endorsed Rep. Karen Bass in her run for Los Angeles mayor today.

UPDATED: The Los Angeles mayoral primary race that saw billionaire Grove developer Rick Caruso in the lead and Rep. Karen Bass trailing on election night has swung the other way as mail-in ballots, which make up the majority of the city’s votes, have crawled in. Caruso’s share of the tally has dropped 5 percentage points since election night, from 41% to 36% this afternoon, while Bass’ share has surged from 38% just after the polls closed to 43% today.

Pat Saperstein Deputy EditorA Los Angeles benefit for Democratic Party efforts, co-hosted by Jeffrey Katzenberg, raised nearly $2.5 million Friday with President Joe Biden in attendance.“The money raised today will help get people to the polls on election day in November,” said Katzenberg. “Just the idea of Kevin McCarthy and Mitch McConnell in charge should be enough to get people out to vote.”Biden has been in Los Angeles this week for the Summit of the Americas, which concludes Friday.The event is being held at the home of Ellen Bronfman Hauptman and Andrew Hauptman.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterDemocrats are sounding the alarm about Rick Caruso’s first-place finish in the race for Los Angeles mayor in Tuesday’s primary, as the billionaire mall developer heads to a runoff against Rep. Karen Bass.Caruso, who has run on addressing homelessness and crime, took 42% of the vote, leading Bass by more than five percentage points.

The top two Los Angeles races in today’s primary election look to have both kicked the can down over to November.

Sasha Urban editorIn a tight primary election for Los Angeles mayor, the two frontrunners — Congresswoman Karen Bass and billionaire developer Rick Caruso — have seen their support split down the middle among major Hollywood players. Tuesday’s election could lead to a November runoff if none of the candidates garner more than 50% of the votes needed to conclusively win the election.Over the last few months, celebrities and executives from all corners of the entertainment and tech industries have voiced their support for Bass and Caruso. Early on, actor and Goop CEO Gwyneth Paltrow threw her support behind Caruso, while pop star Ariana Grande has endorsed Bass on Instagram to her 315 million followers.

When voters go to the polls Tuesday for Los Angeles’ primary election, they are likely to advance two mayoral candidates to the general election: Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA) and developer Rick Caruso.

Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA) and Councilman Kevin de Leon will be taking part in a Los Angeles mayoral candidates’ forum at ICM Partners on Tuesday focused on what is perhaps the biggest issue in the race: homelessness.

Pat Saperstein Deputy EditorSpeakers including Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti, mayoral candidate and congressperson Karen Bass, attorney Gloria Allred and actors including Ricki Lake and Christine Lahti urged people to fight for reproductive freedom at the “Bans Off Our Bodies” rally in downtown Los Angeles Saturday.“I can’t work in Texas anymore,” said “Abbott Elementary” star Lisa Ann Walter, who stated that she is working with SAG-AFTRA to inform members of the reproductive health laws in each state. “We won’t quit until women are guaranteed autonomy all over this country.”Thousands of people turned out for the Los Angeles event in front of City Hall, while more than 380 rallies were planned across the United States.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterFive candidates took the stage for an L.A. mayoral debate last week, but as far as Hollywood is concerned, there might as well be only two.Karen Bass, the former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, is the favorite among the industry’s Democratic donor community, led by Jeffrey Katzenberg and J.J. Abrams.

Developer Rick Caruso’s ads have blanketed the Los Angeles airwaves the message that he is just the non-career politician that the city needs to solve the homelessness crisis and crime, but on Tuesday, he for the first time faced his rivals in the race.

Stars and politicians alike gathered together on March 22 for the annual EMILY’s List discussion about women in politics.

Call your designer, get your hair done, and don’t forget to swab your nostrils — it’s finally time to party as Academy Awards week comes out of the pandemic. While there’s some of the old standards returning after a year’s dormancy during Covid, largely MIA this year are any studio-or-streamer sponsored parties/dinners (except for Warner Bros). But of course, they always can pop up as we head down the runway toward Oscar gold. Please send any event or party details to [email protected]. Most events are by invite-only.