James T. Butts

Introduction

James Thurman Butts Jr. has been mayor of Inglewood, California, since 2011. On September 15–16, 2026, activists alleged he grabbed the buttocks of a high-school cheerleader while posing for a group photo at a city hall community event — and demanded his immediate resignation. Butts, 73, who is seeking a fifth term, categorically denies the allegation through his office, which says his hand merely rested on a cheerleader’s shoulder for the photo. No police report has been filed, no criminal charge has been brought, and the claim rests on the accounts of activists and one city commissioner who did not see the alleged act itself — yet it has put the longest-serving mayor in Inglewood’s history under immediate political siege.

Background Information

Butts was born in Los Angeles on August 1, 1953, and rose through Inglewood’s police department beginning in 1972, serving as a SWAT team commander, undercover officer and robbery-homicide detective before becoming Deputy Chief. He served as Chief of Police of Santa Monica from 1991 to 2006, during which crime fell 64 percent, then held a public-safety post with Los Angeles World Airports before winning the Inglewood mayoralty. Re-elected in 2014 with 84 percent of the vote, in 2018 and again in 2022, he is the longest-serving mayor in the city’s history and shepherded the redevelopment of The Forum, the construction of SoFi Stadium and the rise of Intuit Dome. His tenure has not been without prior controversy: former girlfriend and executive assistant Melanie McDade-Dickens sued Butts and the city in January 2021, alleging she was wrongfully fired and subjected to harassment and retaliation — claims the city denied — while Madison Square Garden, the city treasurer and a councilwoman have all lodged suits or complaints against him over the years.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Allegations. The claims in this section come from activists speaking at a September 16, 2026, news conference and from accounts given to Fox 11 and reported by Fox 11, the New York Post and KNX News. They were never admitted by Butts, no police report has been filed and no charge has been brought; Butts categorically denies the alleged conduct through his office, which released a photo it says shows the actual photo-op positioning.

The alleged incident took place on Tuesday, September 15, 2026, during a community event at Inglewood city hall where members of the Inglewood High School cheerleading squad took a group photograph with the mayor. Activists allege that as Butts posed with the teenage cheerleader, he grabbed her buttocks. Inglewood Commissioner Leonard Redway attended the event but told Fox 11 he did not witness the alleged act itself; he saw a commotion and a visibly upset girl, and called her father. Later that night, Redway’s cell phone video, timestamped 10:34 p.m., appears to show Butts standing in the middle of a residential street talking with a couple of people — a visit Redway says was a personal apology attempt to the father after a phone apology was rejected. “Why would you show up at someone’s house at 10:30 at night if nothing happened,” Redway said, adding on social media, “Come to find out there’s all kinds of people working behind the scenes to cover this [expletive] up.” Butts’s office, in a statement to KNX News, called the allegation “categorically false” and offered a different account: the cheerleaders asked the mayor for the group photo, he joined at the far edge, his outside hand rested on the outside shoulder of the cheerleader immediately in front of him, and his other hand — holding two items — was behind the group; the office said no misconduct was alleged at the time and accused the mayor’s political opponents of using the episode as “political ammunition.” A photo reportedly released by the mayor’s office to KNX shows Butts in a red sweatshirt behind the squad, right hand on a cheerleader’s shoulder, left hand out of view.

Public Reaction and Consequences

By Thursday, September 17 — the day after the event — activists were demanding the mayor’s immediate resignation. “You need to go today. This is nothing new here in the city of Inglewood,” activist and resident Yolanda Davidson said at a news conference. “The residents of Inglewood, myself included, and the people who could not be here today, are calling for his resignation, effective today.” “Sexual allegations cannot be underplayed. They’re serious,” said activist Earl Ofari Hutchinson, while fellow activist Najee Ali went further: “The fact is, we do believe Mayor Butts sexually groped a young minor.” The New York Post reported the next morning that the mayor was being “pressured to resign,” broadcasting the demand to a national audience. The girl’s family, meanwhile, has not filed a police report; activists say the family wants to protect their daughter’s identity.

Current Status

As of September 18, 2026, Butts remains Inglewood’s mayor, has not resigned, and has not personally responded to the allegations beyond his office’s denial; his office did not return Fox 11’s request for comment. The allegation remains exactly that: no police report, no criminal charge, nothing adjudicated; Butts is presumed innocent, and his office flatly disputes the activists’ account with a photo it says supports it. Whether the resignation pressure builds into formal city action or a recall effort — or dissipates as unproven — remains to be seen.

Impact on Their Career/Life

The accusation lands at the worst possible moment for a mayor entering re-election season: Butts is seeking a fifth term, and the “political ammunition” framing his own office deployed confirms the allegation has instantly become the central test of that campaign. A man whose brand was built on decades of law-enforcement leadership — Inglewood SWAT commander, Santa Monica police chief — now faces activists demanding his exit, national headlines pairing his name with “pressured to resign,” and a late-night apology visit captured on a commissioner’s phone. If the pressure campaign acquires institutional weight from the city council or the politicians who celebrated his stadium-era Inglewood, the resignation demand could harden; if the family’s silence holds and no evidence emerges, the episode may stand as the most serious unproven accusation against a mayor who has survived litigation and critics before. Either way, the photo-op that was supposed to be a feel-good moment with a high-school cheer squad has become the image his fifth-term campaign will be unable to escape.