Dustin Lance Black has flipped his endorsement in the Los Angeles mayoral race and publicly accused Nithya Raman of failing to appear at a fundraiser she personally requested.
The Oscar-winning “Milk” screenwriter, 50, announced Sunday on Instagram that he is backing incumbent Mayor Karen Bass after Raman, the 40-year-old city council member challenging Bass, skipped an Oct. 16 campaign event at his home. Black’s husband, British Olympian Tom Daley, 30, had co-hosted “A Reception with Nitya Raman” with him.
Black posted a video to his Instagram account, which reaches nearly half a million followers, explaining his decision to switch sides. “One of the candidates showed up as she promised, and the other did not. And so I’m going to be voting for Karen Bass for mayor of Los Angeles,” he said in the video.
The filmmaker tied his reversal to Los Angeles’ preparations for the 2028 Olympic Games, a subject he said he understands intimately through Daley’s competitive career. “I’m a filmmaker, I’m a husband, and I’m a husband of an Olympian. I’ve been to Olympics that have gone real well and ones that haven’t gone so well,” Black said.
He continued that attending Games with Daley taught him that successful hosting demands more than infrastructure. “If you’re going to put on a world-class games, you have to have the relationships with the people to pull it off, you got to understand the city, and you got to show up. And I want to show off Los Angeles in these Olympics,” the “When We Rise” creator said.
The no-show allegation escalated when actor and comedian Paul Scheer commented on Black’s video, writing, “Just felt like she actively abandoned our industry during the strikes because she seemingly was afraid of upsetting her big dem donors who ran the streamers.”
Black fired back at Scheer with additional details about Raman’s absence. “Raman was a no show to an event she personally reached out and asked us to hold for her. Her staff then lied about the reasons why she vanished—with no heads up,” he wrote in his reply.
The “Mama’s Boy” author added that discussions with former Raman supporters persuaded him the incident reflected a broader pattern rather than an isolated scheduling failure. “I too had been a supporter, but it turns out she is not a dependable politician,” he wrote. “Unfortunately. Not the kind of change that is going to help this city we both love, Paul.”
Black had previously supported Raman’s bid to unseat Bass, who is seeking a second term after first winning office in 2022. The mayor’s race has drawn national attention as Los Angeles grapples with homelessness, housing costs, and wildfire recovery ahead of the 2028 Olympics.
The fundraiser Black and Daley hosted was scheduled for mid-October, placing it weeks before early voting began in the competitive contest. Raman’s campaign has not publicly addressed Black’s specific allegations about the event or his claim that her staff provided false explanations for her absence.
The public break with Black marks a notable setback for Raman, who has positioned herself as a progressive alternative to Bass. Black’s Hollywood profile and his marriage to Daley, one of Britain’s most decorated divers, gave him a platform that extends beyond typical local political endorsements.
Black’s emphasis on Olympic readiness reflects growing scrutiny of how Los Angeles will manage the 2028 Games, which the city is hosting for the third time after previous stints in 1932 and 1984. The event is expected to draw thousands of athletes and hundreds of thousands of visitors to a region still recovering from January’s devastating Palisades and Eaton fires.
The mayoral election will determine who guides the city through that final preparation period, with voters set to decide between Bass and Raman.