Twenty-three years after exchanging flirtatious emails with Ghislaine Maxwell, Casey Wasserman’s empire is crumbling as clients flee and politicians demand his resignation from the 2028 Olympics.
From Untouchable to Toxic
Three weeks ago, Casey Wasserman was the king of Los Angeles power circles. The 51-year-old grandson of legendary Hollywood agent Lew Wasserman controlled a talent empire worth hundreds of millions, chaired the organizing committee for the 2028 Olympics, and counted former presidents among his birthday party guests. Today, he’s selling his agency and fighting for his Olympic role as the entertainment industry’s most spectacular fall from grace unfolds in real time.
The catalyst? A cache of emails from 2003 between Wasserman and Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein’s convicted accomplice, released by the Justice Department in January. The correspondence, described by sources as ‘graphically sexual,’ included Wasserman asking Maxwell ‘what do I have to do to see you in a tight leather outfit?’ while she offered him massages that could ‘drive a man wild.’
The Exodus Begins
The talent hemorrhage started almost immediately. Pop sensation Chappell Roan was among the first to bolt, followed by soccer legend Abby Wambach and indie darling Bethany Cosentino of Best Coast. ‘We are tired of learning, over and over, that men who control access, resources, money and so-called safety in our industry are given endless grace,’ Cosentino wrote in a scathing statement that set the tone for what followed.
By Friday, Wasserman threw in the towel. In an internal memo obtained by multiple outlets, he announced he was selling Wasserman Agency – the company he built over 24 years from scratch into one of Hollywood’s most powerful talent shops. ‘I have become a distraction,’ he wrote to staff, acknowledging his ‘past personal mistakes’ had caused ‘so much discomfort.’
Olympic Sized Problems
But selling his agency won’t solve Wasserman’s biggest headache: his role as chairman of LA28, the organizing committee for the Los Angeles Olympics. Despite a growing chorus of politicians demanding his resignation, the LA28 board voted last week to keep him in place after what they called a thorough review.
‘We found Mr. Wasserman’s relationship with Epstein and Maxwell did not go beyond what has already been publicly documented,’ the board stated, referring to a 2002 humanitarian trip to Africa on Epstein’s plane with the Clinton Foundation.
That decision hasn’t satisfied critics. Karen Bass, Los Angeles’s mayor, broke weeks of silence Monday to call for Wasserman’s resignation. ‘I think that decision was unfortunate,’ Bass told CNN, though she acknowledged she lacks the power to fire him. A third of the city council and multiple county supervisors have joined the chorus, with Monica Rodriguez asking pointedly: ‘Shouldn’t it be a bare minimum expectation that you don’t have a leader who is associated with an international sex-trafficking ring?’
The Historical Parallel
There’s bitter irony in Wasserman’s predicament. His grandfather Lew weathered his own scandals in the 1960s and 70s, facing antitrust scrutiny while transforming MCA into a Hollywood powerhouse. But those were different times, when powerful men could survive almost any controversy through sheer force of will and connections.
Today’s entertainment industry operates under different rules. The #MeToo movement fundamentally altered how associations with sexual misconduct are perceived, even when they predate public knowledge of crimes. Wasserman’s protestations that his correspondence with Maxwell occurred ‘long before her horrific crimes came to light’ carry little weight in an industry that has zero tolerance for such connections.
What Comes Next
As the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics wind down, attention will inevitably turn to Los Angeles 2028. The IOC has remained diplomatically silent, with spokesman Mark Adams saying only that ‘there are many conversations happening at this moment.’
Wasserman’s fate may ultimately depend on whether the political pressure becomes too intense for the LA28 board to ignore. With dozens of Southern California politicians now calling for his head and the mayor of the host city publicly opposing him, his position looks increasingly untenable.
The man who once seemed to control half of Hollywood now finds himself controlled by events set in motion two decades ago. In an industry built on image and perception, Wasserman has learned the hardest lesson of all: some associations never fade, and some emails never die.
Leave a reply
We bring you daily news from around the world. From technology to lifestyle to design and music.