Mellody Hobson quits LA28 Olympics board days before Lucas Museum opens to public

Mellody Hobson has resigned from the board of directors of LA28, the organizing committee for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, just days before the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art — which she co-founded with her husband, filmmaker George Lucas — opens to the public on September 22.

In an internal email reviewed by LAist, Hobson said the demands of steering the newly opened museum were too great to continue serving on the 35-person board, which is led by Casey Wasserman. LA28 confirmed her departure to LAist.

Her exit is the latest strain on the LA28 board, which has faced scrutiny over finances, logistics, and leadership. Hobson had also become a focal point for the Fair Games Coalition, a local activist group that sought meetings with her to raise concerns about the Olympics' impact on South Los Angeles — the same neighborhood where the Lucas Museum sits in Exposition Park.

The coalition's concerns center on housing stability, union jobs, protections for immigrants during the Games, and a moratorium on short-term rentals such as Airbnb. Activists protested outside a September 13 event at the Lucas Museum, calling on Hobson to engage with their goals. A follow-up protest, dubbed 'The Rebel Gala' — a nod to Lucas's Star Wars iconography — was planned for the museum's opening night gala on Saturday, according to The Wrap.

Such mega events and the massive investments required to make them happen should have a positive impact for the city's residents, including the workers that make the games possible. But in recent decades, in country after country, global sporting events have failed to produce lasting benefits for host communities.— Fair Games Coalition, statement

The coalition added that five of the past six Olympics posted cost overruns of more than 100% and that host communities have been left indebted and, in some cases, permanently displaced.

Before news of Hobson's departure broke, Rev. Gary Bernard Williams, a pastor in South L.A., told LAist he had hoped she could serve as a moderating voice on the committee.

She could be a person that could be a counterbalance to the other members of the committee that really do not have the same kind of care and concern for what happens to our people.— Rev. Gary Bernard Williams, South L.A. pastor

The Lucas Museum itself, a 300,000-square-foot building just south of downtown Los Angeles, holds more than 1,300 works of art across 33 galleries organized around themes such as motherhood, work, family, and love. The project took nearly two decades, multiple proposed locations, and at least $1 billion of Lucas's own money, according to CBS News.

Lucas told CBS News the museum is not a Star Wars attraction — the franchise accounts for roughly seven percent of the collection — but a venue dedicated to narrative art, including illustration, murals, comic art, and children's art. Filmmaker Steven Spielberg, a board member and Lucas's friend of nearly 60 years, described it as giving 'a forum, a venue for artists that are not always accepted in the institutions of the art world.'

George has changed the world with some of his ideas, as he's going to change the world with the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art.— Steven Spielberg, filmmaker and museum board member

Hobson did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Representatives from LA28 also did not immediately respond to The Wrap's request for comment.

Why it matters — Hobson's exit removes a figure activists saw as a potential community advocate from the LA28 board at a critical planning stage for the 2028 Games, while spotlighting unresolved tensions between the Olympics and working-class Angelenos.

Reported by variety.com, sports.yahoo.com, cbsnews.com, pbs.org, laist.com, thewrap.com, hollywoodreporter.com