Magic Johnson’s Karen Bass Endorsement Draws Fire

Magic Johnson has officially picked a side in the Los Angeles mayoral race — and it’s costing him some goodwill. The basketball legend publicly endorsed incumbent Mayor Karen Bass for reelection on Monday, praising her record on homelessness and public safety. But instead of giving Bass’s campaign a clean boost, the move has unleashed a wave of criticism directed at both of them.

Bass posted the video endorsement on her social media, in which a visibly enthusiastic Johnson laid out his case. “She sustained the first ever consecutive decrease in homelessness. Homicide rate is down, new housing units, 40,000. I mean, she’s doing a tremendous job,” he said. When Bass walked into the frame, Johnson told her, “You took on a tough job here and you’ve done a fabulous job and all of us appreciate your effort and what you’re doing. We look forward to helping you continue your mission.”

Bass welcomed the support warmly. “Magic Johnson has been my friend for over 30 years. His belief in how I’m changing Los Angeles means everything to me,” she wrote on X. “Magic has poured his heart into this city long before anyone asked him to — through investment, through community, through showing up. I am deeply honored to have his endorsement.”

The Beverly Hills Problem

The problem, critics were quick to point out, is that Johnson doesn’t actually live in Los Angeles. He resides in Beverly Hills — a separate city not among the 114 LA neighborhoods whose residents can cast a vote in the mayoral race. That detail became a rallying point almost immediately.

“Magic is a fool who lives in a guarded compound. The rest of us live in the real world,” one commenter wrote on X. “Oh wow! An endorsement from an out of touch millionaire athlete. Not really an endorsement for the Los Angeles citizens,” said another. A third cut even more directly: “He and you don’t have to live next to homeless junkies like the rest of us.”

Others used the moment to take aim at Bass’s record. “You’ve made L.A. WORSE. Some said it couldn’t be done. Congratulations,” one user wrote. Another accused her of misusing public funds: “Karen you keep stealing from the taxpayers and giving the money to your allies in the unions.”

The pile-on extended beyond social media. Richard Grenell, a Trump administration official, went after Johnson directly on X, calling the endorsement “beyond pathetic” and questioning his motivations. “Los Angeles is in terrible shape and you want Karen ass to be re-elected because she’s your friend?!” Grenell wrote, tagging Johnson and calling it “a selfish move.”

A Lakers Split That’s Hard to Ignore

What makes this particularly striking is who Johnson is now publicly standing against — his former Lakers boss, Jeanie Buss. The two spent decades together building one of the most storied franchises in sports. Johnson served as the team’s president of basketball operations in the late 2010s. Now they’re on opposite sides of a city election.

Buss quietly made her position known last month when she donated $1,800 to Spencer Pratt’s mayoral campaign — the legal maximum. She hasn’t made a formal public endorsement, but the money speaks clearly enough. And over the weekend, Pratt was spotted sitting next to Buss at Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinals between the Lakers and the Oklahoma City Thunder, making the optics even harder to ignore.

Pratt, best known from his reality TV days on The Hills, has built his campaign largely around attacking Bass over her handling of the 2025 wildfires — a catastrophe that killed at least a dozen people and caused billions in damage across the region. His campaign has also hammered her $300 million homeless program, pointing to data suggesting 40 percent of participants have returned to the streets. Only 30 of roughly 16,000 structures destroyed in the fires have been rebuilt, according to activists backing Pratt.

Johnson conspicuously avoided the wildfire issue entirely in his endorsement video. Whether that was a strategic calculation or a genuine blind spot, his critics noticed the omission.

More Than a Former Athlete

To dismiss Johnson as just a celebrity endorser would be to miss the weight he carries in LA civic life. With an estimated net worth of $1.6 billion as of 2026, he holds ownership stakes in the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Los Angeles Sparks, Los Angeles FC, the Washington Commanders, and the Washington Spirit. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2025. He’s been investing in underserved communities in Los Angeles for decades, long before it was fashionable for athletes to do so.

Bass acknowledged exactly that in her response: “Magic has poured his heart into this city long before anyone asked him to.”

But in a race defined by voter frustration over fires, homelessness, and the cost of living, the question isn’t whether Magic Johnson loves Los Angeles. It’s whether an endorsement from someone who doesn’t live within city limits — however beloved — can actually move voters who do. The primary is less than a month away, and the city is watching.