Kathy Griffin Accused the LAPD of White Nationalism on Instagram Live. Karen Bass Smirked and Said Nothing.

• Zero formal response from Mayor Karen Bass (D) to Griffin's white-nationalism accusation against LAPD officers under her command — Fox News Digital, June 2, 2026
• 49% of LAPD officers are Hispanic; 31% non-Hispanic white; 10% Black — per LAPD's own sworn-personnel report — LAPD SPRGE Report
• 1,400 officers LAPD is short of full staffing as of Chief McDonnell's 2025 budget testimony, despite Bass allocating $3.3B to LAPD — LAPD / LA City Budget 2025
• Jan 4, 2025 Bass departed for Ghana one day after a Fire Weather Watch was issued — before the Palisades and Eaton fires erupted January 7 — NBC News, LA Times

On the eve of the June 2, 2026 Los Angeles mayoral primary, Kathy Griffin joined Mayor Karen Bass (D)on an Instagram Live — a get-out-the-vote celebrity event staged to boost Bass’s flagging primary numbers. Griffin used her platform to suggest that the Los Angeles Police Department harbors white nationalists, prompting Bass to smirk and redirect to an entirely different subject.

Neither Bass’s office nor LAPD provided any comment to Fox News Digital, which confirmed it had reached out to both before publication. LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell— the department’s 59th chief, sworn in November 8, 2024 — issued no public statement responding to Griffin’s accusation.

The silence is the story. The mayor of a city whose police department is 49% Hispanic and 10% Black allowed a prominent celebrity to call those officers white nationalists on a campaign event in her name — and said nothing.

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Griffin was co-hosting an Instagram Live with Bass, framing it as a supportive pre-primary event. Her exact words, captured on video and reported by Fox News Digital:

“Talk to us, if you can, about what it's like dealing with such a maybe non-diverse group of law enforcement, although they are diverse, but there's maybe some White nationalism in law enforcement, is my opinion, and [the] city council has been messy. So how do you deal with those elements?”

Kathy Griffin, Instagram Live, June 1, 2026 — co-hosted with Mayor Karen Bass (D)

Bass’s response did not address the LAPD white nationalism claim. She smirked, then pivoted to a comment about her limited authority over city schools and healthcare — a response to a different part of the conversation about immigration enforcement. Her campaign subsequently issued a statement saying Bass “appreciates the support of law enforcement.”

This is Bass’s implicit position: let the accusation stand. She did not correct it. She did not defend her officers. She moved on.

The accusation of white nationalism lands in a department Bass herself has managed badly. The LAPD remains approximately 1,400 officers below full staffing. Bass allocated $3.3 billion to LAPD in her 2025 budget — but that was after years of “defund the police” rhetoric from her congressional career that eroded recruitment pipelines.

The LAPD’s own sworn-personnel data contradicts Griffin’s framing. The department is approximately 49% Hispanic, 31% non-Hispanic white, and 10% Black — one of the more diverse major-city police forces in the country. Griffin used the phrase “maybe non-diverse” before correcting herself to “although they are diverse” and then pivoting to the white nationalism claim. The self-correction in real time didn’t slow her down.

Greg Gutfeld called Griffin “a microcosm of the city of Los Angeles itself — under disrepair, plagued by mental illness, money is thrown at remedies that do nothing to solve the underlying rot.” He argued that celebrity endorsers “live in gated communities and never have to deal with the consequences of the politicians they support.”

That is the structural problem this Instagram Live moment captured. Griffin lives nowhere near the neighborhoods where LAPD policing has life-and-death consequences. Bass campaigns with Griffin while presiding over a department she is not willing to defend from her own supporters’ slanders.

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Bass advanced to the November runoff with approximately 36% of the vote. Spencer Pratt held second at ~30%, with Nithya Raman at ~21% (uncalled as of early June 3 counting). No candidate reached 50%, so a one-on-one November runoff against Bass’s closest competitor follows.

A two-term incumbent mayor could not close out her own primary. Pre-election polling had her at 26% — barely ahead of Pratt at 22% and Raman at 25%. The celebrity Instagram Live circuit did not close the gap.

The Kathy Griffin LAPD moment will be in circulation throughout that November runoff. Every time Bass makes a law-and-order pitch, it will be available for replay.

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