STOCKTON CITY COUNCIL has voted to hire an independent investigator to examine allegations of misuse of city funds and misconduct by elected officials related to a recent entertainment event.
The allegations stem from the Stockton stop of the Wild ‘N Out Live Tour, a comedy performance presented by Nick Cannon, held at the city’s Adventist Health Arena in May. Stockton spent $50,000 from its Risk Mitigation Fund on the event after producers threatened to pull the show from the city due to projected losses of $300,000, according to Jason Perry, general manager of Adventist Health Arena’s management company.
The allegations also appear to be aimed at Stockton Vice Mayor Jason Lee, who performed at the event. Lee, a Stockton native, founded Hollywood news and gossip site Hollywood Unlocked. He won his City Council seat in 2024.
City Councilmember Brando Villapudua in a statement last week accused Lee of putting “Stockton residents at risk by ignoring conflict-of-interest safeguards designed to protect the public.”
“The $50,000 taxpayer subsidy poses grave concerns,” he said. “Vice Mayor Lee’s reckless defiance represents a fundamental failure of leadership and a flagrant disregard for the taxpayers who will pay the price for his misconduct.”
Villapudua urged the City Council to remove Lee as chair of the Council Audit Committee. He also called for the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission to investigate Lee for potential violations of conflict-of-interest laws, the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office to review Lee for potential corruption charges, and the county Civil Grand Jury to investigate Lee for alleged taxpayer harm.
To date, no independent review has found that any city councilmember acted inappropriately regarding the event, city staff noted in the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting.
The council voted 4-3 in favor of the investigation. The council directed Stockton’s city attorney to hire a third-party counsel to complete the investigation, and if it uncovers violations, the council authorized the city attorney to initiate litigation.
At the council’s Tuesday meeting, Lee said that while he helped initially bring the tour to Stockton, he was not involved in planning the event. Lee was on vacation in Mexico when the event producers threatened to pull the show, he said.
“You all have weaponized the city’s platforms to attack people’s credibility, to attack my partners, my friends,” he said. “I am made of steel. I can handle any storm. Nothing you’ve heard — the bullying — none of that bothers me.”
During the meeting’s public comment, several members of the community spoke both in favor of and against the independent investigation.
Stockton artist Tiara Craft argued the event brought necessary high-quality entertainment to Stockton.
“It feels like Stockton is being chastised for trying to be more inclusive, for expanding beyond the limits of what others projected onto us,” Craft said. “When a predominantly black creative platform hosts a major event here without incident, why is the reaction suspicion instead of celebration? That’s not just oversight. That’s targeting. That’s segregation dressed up as policy review.”
‘A waste of money’?
Stockton resident Yolanda Amen urged the City Council to use the potential investigation funds toward more meaningful city improvements.
“You just don’t care about us. You just don’t,” she told the City Council. “It’s ridiculous … I don’t want my taxpayer money going to any investigation. I want my taxpayer money going into my district, and to your district, and to all the districts up here. It’s a waste of money, and it’s a waste of time, and it’s a waste of my hard-earned money that I put into the city.”
Stockton Mayor Christina Fugazi defended the investigation as a means to move forward on a clean slate.
“This isn’t accusatory. It is about making sure that everybody is cleared of anything,” Fugazi said. “There would be nothing better than for us to say, ‘Hey. Nothing improper was done. We had an independent outside investigator, and everything was kosher. No problems. Move on.’“
