{"id":1002966,"date":"2026-08-15T19:30:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T19:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1002966\/"},"modified":"2026-08-15T19:30:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T19:30:14","slug":"la-jazz-festival-fallout-martin-ludlow-airbnb-under-scrutiny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1002966\/","title":{"rendered":"LA Jazz Festival Fallout: Martin Ludlow, Airbnb Under Scrutiny"},"content":{"rendered":"

On a podcast titled \u201cThe Birth of the LA Jazz Festival,\u201d Martin Ludlow touted Airbnb, a company that paid him nearly $3 million to politically canvas for its cause<\/p>\n

Weeks before the abrupt cancellation of a massive musical extravaganza slated to feature 175 acts at events over 17 days in every corner of the city, the endeavor\u2019s founder, Martin Ludlow, went on a popular jazz podcast to tout \u201cThe Birth of the LA Jazz Festival.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWe finally found a courageous title sponsor,\u201d Ludlow told musician Rob Cope, the co-host of \u201cThe Jazz Podcast,\u201d<\/a> last month, to explain how the ambitious festival came together. \u201cThat being Airbnb.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ludlow then went on to talk about the company being the \u201cperfect partner.\u201d The company, he said, offers an opportunity to a community that doesn\u2019t often have a chance to experience \u201cleisure and vacation in the way that you can with Airbnb.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to book and Airbnb now,\u201d Cope responded. \u201cTo put the money back in that they funded.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ludlow\u2019s Airbnb commercial continued. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe other person who really wins is the homeowner,\u201d Ludlow continued with another hard push for Airbnb. \u201cA lot of people on fixed incomes \u2026 are able to put their homes up on those platforms like Airbnb. It\u2019s a triple net win for everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cope agreed about the convenience, adding: \u201cUnashamedly, I\u2019m really on this Airbnb train.\u201d <\/p>\n

Scroll to continue reading<\/p>\n

What the podcast host likely did not know is that Airbnb\u2019s relationship with Ludlow, a former Los Angeles City Council member who became a felon when he pleaded guilty to federal and state public corruption charges in 2006, went far beyond the company\u2019s $750,000 sponsorship for the LA Jazz Festival, which was abruptly canceled hours before it was slated to begin on Aug. 7 without explanation.<\/a><\/p>\n

Ludlow, Los Angeles reported,<\/a> through his company Bridge Street Inc., was paid $2.3 million by Airbnb to \u201ccanvas\u201d for a \u201cSave our Services\u201d campaign in L.A. in 2025 and 2026. Airbnb\u2019s political action committee also contracted Bridge Street in January, paying Ludlow $300,000 for \u201cSan Diego Ordinance Activations,\u201d according to a filing by the company. <\/a><\/p>\n

Even in the lucrative world of lobbying, a corporation paying nearly $3 million dollars to a single company owned by a convicted felon is unusual, even as Airbnb has dramatically expanded its political footprint in Los Angeles. Not only has the company poured $19 million into the \u201cSave Our Services\u201d campaign aimed at rolling back short-term rental regulations, but it also hired the son of Herb Wesson, a longtime political power broker and former L.A. City Council President who had also led the California State Assembly as its Speaker, as the lobbyist spreading around that money.<\/p>\n

Before becoming the Strategic Public Policy Manager for Airbnb, Justin Wesson spent years working for his dad at City Hall <\/a>before moving over to the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor.<\/p>\n

Wesson was working as the Fed\u2019s Chief of Staff in 2022 when City Hall was rocked by a leaked audiotape <\/a>from a meeting a year earlier at the union\u2019s headquarters that captured then City Council President Nury Martinez, along with fellow Councilmembers Gil Cedillo and Kevin de Le\u00f3n and labor federation President Ron Herrera, engaging in incendiary racist rants while plotting redistricting. <\/p>\n

The leaked tapes <\/a>sparked protests in the streets, ended the careers of a slew of top pols, and even had former President Joe Biden himself wagging a finger of shame at City Hall. Even Wesson\u2019s wife suffered setbacks in the chaotic aftermath. Alexis Wesson<\/a> lost her job working as the Chief of Staff for Martinez, who stepped down as the city erupted in fury. [Alexis Wesson is now Chief of Staff for City Councilmember Adrin Nazarian.]<\/p>\n

As part of the fallout of that scandal, Justin Wesson left the Fed in April 2023 and started his public policy job at Airbnb the following month.<\/p>\n

The company was looking for inroads into L.A.\u2019s City Hall to push for rollbacks of the city\u2019s strict short-term rental policies passed in 2018. <\/a>Wesson quickly turned to Ludlow to help Airbnb\u2019s campaign to make that happen. \u201cAcross the country and state, we back causes and candidates that champion building local economies,\u201d an Airbnb spokesperson told Los Angeles this week about the spending with Ludlow\u2019s company, \u201cincluding a tourism economy that doesn\u2019t just benefit big, corporate hotels, but also everyday homeowners looking to make extra money by sharing their home.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Martin Ludlow avoided jail time by testifying against a former friend and union official but is now coming under fire for leaving artists, vendors, and venues in the lurch Credit: Courtesy of the LA Jazz Festival<\/p>\n

Since Ludlow abruptly canceled the Airbnb-sponsored jazz fest hours before its opening event in Leimert Park, he has refused to answer questions from artists, vendors and venues who have been left high and dry. Mayor Karen Bass, who has seen $1.5 million in Airbnb contributions flow into two separate political action committees pushing for her reelection, has also refused to comment on the upheaval caused by the cancellation of the festival she touted alongside Ludlow in February on the City Hall steps named for the elder Wesson.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe silence is deafening,\u201d said Jennie Proctor, a Marina del Rey resident who was hoping to attend one of the dozens of concerts that were scheduled, including a beach concert to close the festival with headliners John Legend and Janelle Mon\u00e1e. \u201cIt\u2019s entirely disrespectful to the people of Los Angeles.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, at the end of the podcast that aired in July, Ludlow hinted at what was to come. \u201cWe\u2019re a long ways away from being financially secure,\u201d Ludlow said, adding that Airbnb got the festival off the ground, but \u201cwe need to fund the landing.\u201d <\/p>\n

It was an ominous statement. It is now clear that Ludlow did not pull permits, as required by the Los Angeles Police or Fire Departments, for events in public spaces. When he tried to negotiate with civil services at the last minute, he couldn\u2019t make the financials work, Ludlow said in the one public statement he has made about the disastrous failure. \u201cDue to significant, unanticipated last-minute public safety and municipal costs associated with the final permitting of the On The Beach Festival, we have reached the decision to unfortunately postpone this year\u2019s inaugural LA Jazz Festival.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear what the financials for the LA Jazz Festival were at the end. The festival was registered by Ludlow as a 501c3 nonprofit under the umbrella of his company Bridge Street. The required 990 filings for the charity were last filed in 2023. <\/p>\n

Many artists are calling the failure of the jazz festival \u201cL.A.\u2019s Fyre Fest,\u201d a nod to the failed luxury concert that sent its founder to prison for looting $27 million from the event. Airbnb has also expressed disappointment in its cancellation. \u201cWe were incredibly excited to be one of the top sponsors for LA JazzFest to help put Jazz culture and history in a much-deserved spotlight this summer,\u201d an Airbnb spokesperson told\u00a0Los Angeles\u00a0on Thursday. \u201cWe share the disappointment of the artists, vendors, and other community members and likewise demand answers from those involved in the planning failures of this event.\u201d<\/p>\n