James Butts said denying access to homes has never been and will never be part of Inglewood’s traffic plan around Los Angeles Stadium. His Wednesday response came after viral videos showed locals being blocked from neighborhoods during World Cup events at SoFi Stadium.
One TikTok drew 1.4 million views and more than 92,000 likes. An Instagram reel pulled 221,000 likes, and both clips fueled complaints from locals in Inglewood who said they were caught in the traffic restrictions while trying to get home.
Butts Draws A Hard Line
Butts posted that residents can safely access their homes and keep a high quality of life during major events. He said the city’s traffic management plan for FIFA World Cup matches or any other event does not include denying people access to their streets.
The TikTok clip appeared to show an officer telling people in a car that they could not park on the street near their home. The passenger wrote that officers were in front of their home from 7 to 10 p.m., and the text on the video said the traffic was tied to the FIFA event at SoFi Stadium.
Metro L.A. Explains Its Role
L.A. Metro also responded on Wednesday. It said it requested assistance from the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department to support bus movement out of the area, and it said it did not call for complete street closures.
The Instagram reel showed another officer telling drivers to turn around even though they were heading home. A person filming from the backseat said repeatedly that they lived in the building across the street, putting the access dispute at the center of the backlash.
The videos arrived as the World Cup has brought hundreds of thousands of people to Inglewood and L.A., with traffic and parking still a concern for locals. That pressure now sits alongside planning for the Super Bowl in 2027 and the 2028 Olympics, and Metro and Inglewood said they are coordinating a plan to better mitigate traffic around the stadium.
For residents near SoFi Stadium, the immediate issue is not the crowd size. It is whether the rules being enforced on the street match the city’s pledge that home access stays open during major events.
