Inglewood Mayor James Butts said he did not inappropriately touch a teenage girl, after days of facing criticism on social media and calls to step down from local candidates for office and activists.
Butts held a press conference with other Inglewood officials and supporters on Monday and called the accusations “baseless, unsourced and completely false.” He pointed out that the accusations have largely been spread by other candidates running for office, and he said his attorneys are sending them cease-and-desist letters.
The girl and her family have not spoken publicly or provided an account of what happened.
Here’s what we know, and the questions that remain:
On Sept. 16, Leonard Redway, a candidate running for City Council, posted an Instagram video accusing Butts of inappropriately touching a high school girl at a voter registration event held by the city the day before. In the video, Redway said he’d spoken with the girl’s father, and the father was hoping to talk to Butts face-to-face. Another video circulated on social media, purporting to show Butts visiting the family’s home.
“Where you got me messed up is when you start messing with the kids,” Redway said.
Redway declined a request for comment, and he later deleted the video. In another Instagram post, he said he didn’t want to remain at the center of the story.
“It started because a father wanted someone to listen to concerns about what happened to his daughter, and I tried to help make sure he was heard,” he wrote in the post.
Meanwhile, Butts’s office said in a statement to KNX News that the allegations that the mayor touched a girl inappropriately during a group photo at the event are “categorically false.”
“There was no sexual touching, groping, assault, or other inappropriate conduct of any kind,” the statement read, adding that when the group photo was taken, “no one accused Mayor Butts of misconduct at the time, expressed concerns, or caused any confrontation or disturbance.”
“The facts and the photograph show what this is: a routine group picture that is now being used as political ammunition in the midst of an election,” the statement read.
KNX also posted a photo showing the mayor posing with a group of Inglewood High School cheerleaders. In the photo, Butts’ hand is on a girl’s shoulder, and his other hand is not visible. It’s unclear if other photos were taken of Butts and the girls at the event, and the Inglewood Unified School District did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On Monday, James Morris, the district’s county administrator, spoke at the press conference with Butts and said he had never failed his duties as a mandated reporter.
In addition to Redway, two other candidates for local office have called for Butts to resign. Yolanda Davidson, a candidate for Inglewood City Council District 1, held a press conference on Sept. 17 with mayoral candidate Fre’Drisha “Sha” Dixon as well as activists Najee Ali and Earl Ofari Hutchinson.
“We elected you to protect this community. You were supposed to protect these children,” Davidson said in front of City Hall after last week’s press conference. “We told them to come out and vote. You are the number one civic leader, and this is how you treat our children? Absolutely not. We will not stand for this.”
Dixon said calling for Butts’ resignation is not a political game, and the allegations are too significant to ignore.
“This was a city-sponsored event intended to welcome our young people into the democratic process,” Dixon told The LA Local on Sept. 17.
“Every child who walks into an event hosted by the city of Inglewood deserves to know that the adults entrusted with leadership will respect their safety, their dignity, and their personal boundaries,” Dixon said.
California Assemblymember Tina McKinnor spoke alongside Butts at Monday’s press conference, saying “we cannot allow social media to become the judge and jury.”
“This is also an election season, candidates have every right to challenge one another, criticize one another and debate the future of this city, but serious allegations should be handled responsibly,” said McKinnor, who also posted her statement on Instagram. “If there is evidence, bring it forward. If there are first-hand witnesses, they should provide their information to the appropriate, independent authorities. Let the facts be investigated. Until then, allegations should be called allegations.”
The calls for Butts to resign come as he’s vying for reelection in November. He’s served as Inglewood’s mayor since 2011 and is credited with bringing major developments to the city including SoFi Stadium and the Intuit Dome, but this isn’t the first time he’s been accused of misconduct.
In 2019, the LA Times reported that Melanie McDade-Dickens, a former aide to Butts, accused him of harassment, abusive conduct and retaliation after she was fired. She also claimed she and Butts had a consensual romantic relationship, however, Butts never confirmed the relationship and denied any wrongdoing.
Hutchinson, president of the Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable, said the latest allegations against Butts should not be downplayed.
“The mayor has got to go. This is the time for the mayor to say and do something right, which is to say, ‘I’m resigning,’” Hutchinson said Thursday. “Nothing less than that will satisfy us, and really, nothing less than that should satisfy the residents of Inglewood.”
