Samuel L. Jackson brought a profane voting plea to Karen Bass’ reelection push as the Los Angeles mayor faced City Councilmember Nithya Raman in the November 3 runoff.
The actor backed Bass in a new campaign video released Sunday, October 25. He defended her work on homelessness and argued that running a citywide response was tougher than testing a program in one district. Several other actors made their own cases for Bass. Anthony Anderson pointed to her work on California’s film and television tax credit in a Saturday video. Jane Fonda praised her years as an organizer and public official, while Cedric the Entertainer drew on his long relationship with Bass. Jackson had also publicly backed Bass months earlier in this year’s race. In that earlier endorsement, The National News Desk reported in May that he stressed her knowledge of government and ability to bring people together. Bass described him as a friend who shared her housing and crime goals.
The profanity also fit an approach Jackson had used to promote voting before. During the 2020 presidential election, he offered fans lessons in swearing in 15 languages through HeadCount’s nonpartisan Good to Vote effort.
That challenge called for 2,500 people to take a voting action through his link. Celebrity participants offered fans special access or rewards tied to participation, putting Jackson’s famous vocabulary to work for voter outreach six years before this mayoral appeal.