Jason Lee is no longer the vice mayor of Stockton, California, after the city council voted Tuesday night to remove him from the role, just moments after rejecting his attempt to step down on his own.
Lee, who founded Hollywood Unlocked and hosts The Jason Lee Show, still keeps his seat representing District 6 on the council, and his term there runs through 2028. What he lost is the vice mayor title, along with his position as chair of the city’s audit committee, the panel that reviews how the city handles its money.
The night played out in an unusual order. During the meeting, Lee announced that he was resigning as vice mayor. “I’m going to resign as the vice mayor,” he told the council. Instead of accepting it, the council voted against his resignation. Mayor Christina Fugazi then introduced a motion to remove him, and it passed 4 to 2, with council members Brando Villapudua, Michele Padilla and Mariela Ponce joining Fugazi. Council members Michael Blower and Mario Enriquez voted no. Lee had already left to catch a cross country flight and was not in the room for the vote.
Earlier in the meeting, the council voted 6 to 1 to take Lee off the audit committee. Lee cast the only vote against it.
Lee is now challenging whether the council had the power to do any of it. He points out that the council unanimously approved his appointment as vice mayor under the City Charter, the document that sets the rules for how Stockton’s government works. He also points to the city’s own staff report, which acknowledged that the council’s procedures for reconsidering a decision did not, on their own, give it the authority to remove a sitting vice mayor.
In a statement after the meeting, Lee said he offered to step down so the city would not spend its time on a fight over his title. “At last night’s meeting, I offered my resignation as Vice Mayor to avoid spending final weeks over political theater while Stockton has real issues in front of it,” he said. Before the vote, he also said his work for his district does not depend on a title. “My commitment to District 6 has never depended on a title, and I’ll keep doing the work,” Lee wrote.
The removal is the latest chapter in a long running feud between Lee and Fugazi. The mayor was the one who nominated him as vice mayor in January 2025, and the council approved him unanimously for a two year term that was set to end December 31. Their partnership fell apart over questions about city spending and transparency. Last November, Lee accused former City Manager Steve Colangelo of misusing taxpayer money and called on Fugazi to resign.
Lee has also faced his own scrutiny at City Hall. In 2025, he came under fire after $50,000 from a city fund was used to keep Nick Cannon’s Wild ‘N Out live show in Stockton from being canceled, a show Lee helped bring to the city and appeared in. Lee called it a political witch hunt, and in January an independent investigation by the law firm Hanson Bridgett cleared him, finding he did not misuse city funds, abuse his authority or improperly pressure city staff. The investigation itself cost the city about $50,000. Lee, Blower and Enriquez had voted against paying for it, while Fugazi, Padilla, Ponce and Villapudua voted for it. “I tried my best to save the taxpayers from spending $50,000 to prove I was innocent, but the council clique voted otherwise,” Lee said at the time.
Lee broke into media in 2015 when he launched Hollywood Unlocked, which grew into a major outlet covering pop culture and politics. He ran for Stockton’s District 6 seat in 2023, representing the south Stockton area where he built his political base.
Whether the council’s vote holds up remains an open question. For now, Lee keeps his council seat while the fight over how he lost his title continues.
