Inglewood Mayor James Butts denies allegations involving high school student, calls it 'smear campaign'
Inglewood Mayor denies groping allegations
Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts denied allegations that he groped a high school student at a community event.
LOS ANGELES COUNTY, Calif. - Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts is speaking out for the first time, denying allegations that he groped a high school student while posing for a photo at a community event last week.
"I fully deny their allegations with my whole heart," Butts said. "Their slander and libelous defamation with no direct source or facts." Butts also disputed that any formal complaint exists.
"There is no documented complaint against me or anyone else in the city of anything," he said.
Video shot by Inglewood District One Commissioner Leonard Redway appears to show Mayor Butts meeting with someone on a neighborhood street Tuesday night. Redway told FOX 11 News the mayor was meeting with the girl’s father to apologize.
Butts called the entire allegation a smear campaign and criticized FOX 11’s coverage.
"I never thought that I would see what I saw on FOX 11," he said. He also criticized FOX 11 News for reporting what community activists had to say and claimed the coverage of the situation has racial motivation.
"They’ll stoop so low as to use innocent kids as pawns to dehumanize their opponents with racial stereotypes that should have been left in the past, a long time ago," Butts said.
Mayor Butts ended the news conference without taking any questions. Later that afternoon, activist Najee Ali delivered a letter to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office, requesting an investigation into the allegations.
No police report has been filed. Redway has said the girl’s family did not go to police in order to protect her identity.
The backstory:
Last Tuesday, community activists held a news conference demanding Butts resign immediately, alleging he groped a high school student while posing for a photo.
"Sexual allegations cannot be underplayed. They’re serious," activist Earl Ofari Hutchinson said at the time. Redway, who says he was at the event, posted on social media about the allegations.
"Come to find out, there’s all kinds of other people working behind the scenes to cover this [expletive] up," he said in a video.
What they're saying:
"We want DA Nathan Hochman to conduct an independent investigation based on the witnesses who were there," Ali said. "We do believe that Mayor Butts acted inappropriately with a high school student. That high school student was crying after her encounter with Mayor Butts, and at today’s press conference, Mayor Butts never explained what he was doing at that student’s house in the middle of the night, meeting with her parents. That encounter is captured on videotape. He never addressed it."
Inglewood resident and activist Yolanda Davidson released the following statement:
"My position is simple: let an independent process determine the facts. Mayor Butts has every right to deny the allegation, but calling it ‘baseless’ and ‘unsourced’ does not answer the central question — will he support a fair, independent investigation? I believe the privacy of the young person and her family should be respected, and I do not intend to turn this into a public argument. I was not an eyewitness, and I have never claimed to be. I have consistently referred to this as an allegation. This is not about political ambition; it’s about accountability. I am not a candidate for mayor, and I have no interest in making this about me."
What's next:
FOX 11 News will continue to follow this story, including any response from the Los Angeles County DA’s office to Ali’s request for an investigation, and whether Mayor Butts addresses the unanswered questions activists have raised about his late-night visit to the girl’s family.