The Brief

LOS ANGELES — Louis Gossett Jr., the first Black man to win a supporting actor Oscar and an Emmy winner for his role in the seminal TV miniseries "Roots," has died. He was 87.

Gossett's first cousin Neal L. Gossett told The Associated Press that the actor died in Santa Monica, California. A statement from the family said Gossett died Friday morning. No cause of death was revealed.

Gossett's cousin remembered a man who walked with Nelson Mandela and who also was a great joke teller, a relative who faced and fought racism with dignity and humor.

"Never mind the awards, never mind the glitz and glamor, the Rolls-Royces and the big houses in Malibu. It's about the humanity of the people that he stood for," his cousin said.

Louis Gossett always thought of his early career as a reverse Cinderella story, with success finding him from an early age and propelling him forward, toward his Academy Award for "An Officer and a Gentleman."

Gossett broke through on the small screen as Fiddler in the groundbreaking 1977 miniseries "Roots," which depicted the atrocities of slavery on TV. The sprawling cast included Ben Vereen, LeVar Burton and John Amos.

Gossett became the third Black Oscar nominee in the supporting actor category in 1983. He won for his performance as the intimidating Marine drill instructor in "An Officer and a Gentleman" opposite Richard Gere and Debra Winger. He also won a Golden Globe for the same role.

"More than anything, it was a huge affirmation of my position as a Black actor," he wrote in his 2010 memoir, "An Actor and a Gentleman."

A lucky break

He had earned his first acting credit in his Brooklyn high school's production of "You Can't Take It with You" while he was sidelined from the basketball team with an injury.

"I was hooked — and so was my audience," he wrote in his memoir.

His English teacher urged him to go into Manhattan to try out for "Take a Giant Step." He got the part and made his Broadway debut in 1953 at age 16.

"I knew too little to be nervous," Gossett wrote. "In retrospect, I should have been scared to death as I walked onto that stage, but I wasn't."

Gossett attended New York University on a basketball and drama scholarship. He was soon acting and singing on TV shows hosted by David Susskind, Ed Sullivan, Red Buttons, Merv Griffin, Jack Paar and Steve Allen.

Gossett became friendly with James Dean and studied acting with Marilyn Monroe, Martin Landau and Steve McQueen at an offshoot of the Actors Studio taught by Frank Silvera.

In 1959, Gossett received critical acclaim for his role in the Broadway production of "A Raisin in the Sun" along with Sidney Poitier,Ruby Dee and Diana Sands.

He went on to become a star on Broadway, replacing Billy Daniels in "Golden Boy" with Sammy Davis Jr. in 1964.

Racism, L.A.-style

Gossett went to Hollywood for the first time in 1961 to make the film version of "A Raisin in the Sun." He had bitter memories of that trip, staying in a cockroach-infested motel that was one of the few places to allow Black people.

In 1968, he returned to Hollywood for a major role in "Companions in Nightmare," NBC's first made-for-TV movie that starred Melvyn Douglas, Anne Baxter and Patrick O'Neal.

This time, Gossett was booked into the Beverly Hills Hotel and Universal Studios had rented him a convertible. Driving back to the hotel after picking up the car, he was stopped by a Los Angeles County sheriff's officer who ordered him to turn down the radio and put up the car's roof before letting him go.

Within minutes, he was stopped by eight sheriff's officers, who had him lean against the car and made him open the trunk while they called the car rental agency before letting him go.

"Though I understood that I had no choice but to put up with this abuse, it was a terrible way to be treated, a humiliating way to feel," Gossett wrote in his memoir. "I realized this was happening because I was Black and had been showing off with a fancy car — which, in their view, I had no right to be driving."

After dinner at the hotel, he went for a walk and was stopped a block away by a police officer, who told him he broke a law prohibiting walking around residential Beverly Hills after 9 p.m. Two other officers arrived and Gossett said he was chained to a tree and handcuffed for three hours. He was eventually freed when the original police car returned.

"Now I had come face-to-face with racism, and it was an ugly sight," he wrote. "But it was not going to destroy me."

In the late 1990s, Gossett said he was pulled over by police on the Pacific Coast Highway while driving his restored 1986 Rolls Royce Corniche II. The officer told him he looked like someone they were searching for, but the officer recognized Gossett and left.

He founded the Eracism Foundation to help create a world where racism doesn't exist.

A near-miss with the Manson family

Gossett made a series of guest appearances on such shows as "Bonanza," "The Rockford Files," "The Mod Squad," "McCloud" and a memorable turn with Richard Pryor on "The Partridge Family."

In August 1969, Gossett had been partying with members of the Mamas and the Papas when they were invited to actor Sharon Tate's house. He headed home first to shower and change clothes. As he was getting ready to leave, he caught a news flash on TV about Tate's murder. She and others were killed by Charles Manson's associates that night.

"There had to be a reason for my escaping this bullet," he wrote.

Louis Cameron Gossett was born on May 27, 1936, in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn, New York, to Louis Sr., a porter, and Hellen, a nurse. He later added Jr. to his name to honor his father.

"The Oscar gave me the ability of being able to choose good parts in movies like 'Enemy Mine,' 'Sadat' and 'Iron Eagle,'" Gossett said in Dave Karger's 2024 book "50 Oscar Nights."

He said his statue was in storage.

"I'm going to donate it to a library so I don't have to keep an eye on it," he said in the book. "I need to be free of it."

Wins but no leads

Gossett appeared in such TV movies as "The Story of Satchel Paige," "Backstairs at the White House, "The Josephine Baker Story," for which he won another Golden Globe, and "Roots Revisited."

But he said winning an Oscar didn't change the fact that all his roles were supporting ones.

He played an obstinate patriarch in the 2023 remake of "The Color Purple."

Gossett struggled with alcohol and cocaine addiction for years after his Oscar win. He went to rehab, where he was diagnosed with toxic mold syndrome, which he attributed to his house in Malibu.

In 2010, Gossett announced he had prostate cancer, which he said was caught in the early stages. In 2020, he was hospitalized with COVID-19.

He also is survived by sons Satie, a producer-director from his second marriage, and Sharron, a chef whom he adopted after seeing the 7-year-old in a TV segment on children in desperate situations. His first cousin is actor Robert Gossett.

Gossett's first marriage to Hattie Glascoe was annulled. His second, to Christina Mangosing, ended in divorce in 1975 as did his third to actor Cyndi James-Reese in 1992.

When Sarah Lindbo's 14-year-old daughter Greta is thriving, she is playful, engaged and not in pain.

Greta, who has cerebral palsy, requires a range of supports to get to that point. That includes doctors, medical equipment, prescriptions, a paraprofessional at school and a care assistant at home. Many of these services depend on Medicaid.

" Medicaid makes a huge impact in our day-to-day life," Lindbo said. "It is the foundation of what gives Greta her experience at school and in our community and our family."

But lately, Lindbo has been nervous. She and her family live in Minnesota where hundreds of millions of dollars — and possibly billions — for the state's Medicaid program are in limbo as part of the Trump administration's crackdown on fraud. It came after federal prosecutors last year alleged that billions may have been stolen from Minnesota's Medicaid program over the years and charged a number of people with Medicaid fraud.

Dr. Mehmet Oz, who oversees the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, has argued that widespread fraud has persisted for too long, hurting both taxpayers and those who rely most on the program.

"This is not a problem with the people of Minnesota. It's a problem with the leadership of Minnesota and other states who do not take Medicaid preservation seriously," he said at a press conference on Feb. 25.

But health care policy experts say the threats to Medicaid funding are unprecedented — going far beyond the typical steps to address fraud and at a scale that could disrupt services for patients.

"If this becomes the framework for addressing fraud, it's really destabilizing," said Allie Gardner, a health policy researcher at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a progressive think tank. " It risks the coverage and care for those that depend on the program."

CMS declined to comment, citing pending litigation. Earlier this month, Minnesota filed a federal lawsuit over a portion of the frozen Medicaid funds. In a press release announcing the suit, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison asserted that the state has taken a concerted effort against fraud and the federal government's "cut first" approach risks care for Minnesotans. 

"The Trump Administration's M.O. is to cut first, no matter what the law says or who gets hurt, and ask questions later, if at all," he said.

Breaking down what's happening to Minnesota's Medicaid funds

Administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Dr. Mehmet Oz speaks during a news conference on efforts to combat fraud, at the White House on Feb. 25, 2026.

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Tom Brenner

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The federal government partners with states to fund Medicaid. But after widespread fraud allegations surfaced in Minnesota, CMS announced it would halt federal funds for the state's program in two ways — retroactively and going forward.

The retroactive move is called deferral. In February, CMS said it would delay reimbursing about $259.5 million that the state spent on Medicaid last summer, citing concerns about potential fraud and coverage for patients without legal status, who are not eligible for Medicaid.

The federal agency asked the state to prove that funds were spent lawfully across 14 categories of providers which Minnesota had previously identified as "high risk" for fraud. (Last year, the state shut down one of the programs, Housing Stabilization Services, citing widespread fraud.)

Deferrals are a standard oversight tool for CMS but they are typically narrow in scope — like a review of a specific set of claims, according to Gardner. When deferrals are too broad or vague, it can be more difficult and time-consuming for the state to gather the proper evidence and respond to the issues, she said.

"The state kind of has to shoot in the dark in responding to CMS on what documentation they need to provide," Gardner said. "What is the scope of information needed? Do they need documentation to justify every single claim?"

The second move is known as withholding. Here, the federal government is saying it will hold off payments for future care.

That decision came after CMS asked Minnesota in December for a plan on how it will prevent future fraud. The state later submitted a proposal with a list of actions, including strengthening certain review processes and pausing provider enrollment in the "high risk" programs. But in January, Dr. Oz announced that the state's plan was "deeply insufficient," and therefore, CMS intended to withhold about $2 billion annually in future federal funding.

According to Gardner, this kind of move is rare, especially with an amount this large. Using both deferral and withholding simultaneously puts Minnesota at risk of a massive and sudden financial hit.

" CMS' use of both of these processes to go after the same services at the same time — that's really concerning," she said. "Especially given the significant financial consequences to the state and providers as well as, to the care and coverage of Medicaid enrollees."

Before CMS can start withholding future funds, the state has an opportunity for a hearing. If CMS decides not to release the funds in deferral, the state also has a chance to appeal. Minnesota's lawsuit pertains to a bulk of the money stuck in deferral.

Minnesota could be a test case for other states

Attorneys representing CMS have argued the $259.5 million in deferral involves services that were already paid for by the state, which only represent about 7% of quarterly federal funds owed to Minnesota.

But Andy Schneider, a Medicaid policy expert with the Georgetown Center for Children and Families, said the state likely planned its budget with the expectation of receiving those reimbursement funds.

" The federal government has just told the state, you have $259 million less to work with for the services that are happening now," he said. "That's a lot in a short period of time."

The potential loss of $2 billion in future funding would be even more challenging for the state to manage, according to Schneider. It could slow payments to providers and delay the enrollment of new patients. It could also force the state to cut reimbursement rates and limit the number of services it covers, he added.

While Minnesota has been under unique federal pressure, CMS has also sent letters to California, New York and Maine, raising concerns about potential fraud in each of the state's Medicaid programs.

Schneider, who also served as a senior adviser to CMS during the Obama administration, said this step could be an early warning signal for deferring or withholding federal Medicaid funding in those states.

Earlier this month, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce launched investigations over Medicaid fraud in 10 states: California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Maine, Nebraska, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Washington. All but Nebraska and Vermont are led by Democratic governors.

Schneider agrees that it's important to root out bad actors exploiting Medicaid, but he argues that federal-state collaboration is essential to tackling fraud concerns while not jeopardizing people's access to care.

" If they were really worried about it, they would continue to do what we did in the past, which is to work cooperatively with the state," he said.

When Lindbo first heard about the potential threats to Medicaid, she got emotional. Although her family has private health insurance, Lindbo said it does not cover many of her daughter's critical services, such as the school paraprofessional who helps Greta get ready for class and assists Greta if she has a seizure.

According to Lindbo, any disruption to Greta's care could undo the progress she has made.

" Regression is real," she said. "That would just be so heartbreaking because she's worked really hard. People who work with her work really hard and those systems need to stay in place so she can continue to grow."
Copyright 2026 NPR

After a delay that has threatened plans for World Cup celebrations across the U.S., the federal government said this week that it's moving forward with awarding host cities including Los Angeles hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for security.

Host cities have been counting on the $625 million in federal funds, which were already allocated in last year's "One Big Beautiful Bill" for security costs related to putting on the global tournament.

L.A. will host eight matches at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, a five-day fan festival at the Coliseum and watch parties and fan zones around the region – and those events will require additional police and resources to pull off.

FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is responsible for allocating the funding to the 11 host city committees in the U.S. Last month, officials in Miami and Kansas City raised the alarm that they may need to cancel fan plans if the money didn't come through soon. Los Angeles officials declined to weigh in at the time.

In a statement provided to LAist, FEMA blamed the ongoing government shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security for the delay.

"While the recent funding lapse temporarily slowed the grant process and impacted FEMA’s grants management system, DHS and FEMA have completed their review and approval of applications" the statement said. "Grants supporting host jurisdictions and security efforts will begin going out soon.”

But the saga's not over yet. Los Angeles and the Bay Area are still waiting on those grants, according to a statement from the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services, which is responsible for disbursing federal funds to the World Cup host committees in the state.

The money will be paid out as reimbursements – but organizers can't make plans to use the funds until they know what they've been awarded.

“Cal OES will continue pressing the federal government to announce the World Cup Grant Program awards so host city communities can plan responsibly and ensure the security resources needed for a global event like the World Cup are in place," a CalOES spokesperson told LAist via email.

LAist has asked FEMA, Cal OES and the L.A. host committee how much money they requested for security costs in Los Angeles, but has not received a response.

It's less than three months until the first World Cup match in the U.S. will kick off in Los Angeles on June 12.

In a cozy dance studio in Garden Grove, dancers of all experience levels, ages and backgrounds flock to Queer Latin Dance OC to learn the steps to salsa, cumbia and bachata.

For many, the dance class is more than educational — it’s a place to get away from it all, to find community and to uplift one another through art.

When Rodrigo Marquez founded Queer Latin Dance OC at the beginning of this year, he said he was filling a gap in Orange County that often lacks safe spaces for the LGBTQ+ community.

“I wanted to make creative communities for us to learn in a safe environment,” Marquez said. “Everyone's here to learn, and I want the pressure of whatever's going on in the world, just to forget for the next hour.”

Queer Latin Dance OC meets three times a week to learn the steps to salsa, cumbia and bachata.

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What are the dance lessons like? 

When creating his teaching plan, Marquez said he considers the range of experience his students might have. Everybody starts somewhere, he added, and the hardest part is showing up.

“It is scary, but if you're already showing up, then just jump in and just forget about the world. It's a great distraction, and dancing makes you feel better,” Marquez said.

Philip Lee, an elementary school teacher from Tustin, took his first class with the group Monday night, trying the quick steps of salsa.

“I had a stressful day. … All my stress that I had in my neck and upper back just kind of went away,” Lee said, adding that the high energy in the room is infectious. “It was nice just laughing with people in the community and meeting new people.”

Lee said the dance lesson gave him a space to be with community.

“The queer community specifically, and just kind of let my guard down and just be free and laugh and enjoy being me and celebrated for a love for the arts,” Lee said. “That's not a space that is always safe.”

Before taking lessons at Queer Latin Dance OC, Melba Rivera said she came in with zero dance experience.

“You come as you are. No matter what level you're at or how you identify or what your experience is, everybody's here and everybody's learning,” Rivera said. “It's a very encouraging and motivating space.”

Salsa and bachata are social dances, Marquez said, but one thing that makes his class unique to many is that regardless of gender identity, anyone can follow or lead.

Typically, the lead falls to the male dancer, and women follow. Marquez said it was important that no one feels pressured to be one or the other.

“That's why I created this, so people like me can just come and learn, not be expected to be in a gender role based on how they look,” Marquez said. “They want to dance how they feel.”

Why it matters

Taryn Heiner said, especially in Orange County, it’s challenging to find spaces that are queer-friendly and queer-open.

“That's really what makes this space so kind and warm and welcoming,” Heiner said. “We have all that base understanding of respecting one another, no matter who they are, who they love and what they do.”

Growing up in Orange County, not every room you walk into is a safe space, Rivera added.

“So walking into a room like this, where everybody's friendly, everybody's learning, everybody's just here for the same purpose to get better, to support each other, is really important,” Rivera said. “Not just in the class, but [in] the friendships we make outside of the classroom.”

Outside of dance class, Marquez’s students meet up for monthly hikes and other get-togethers. Marquez said it is a privilege and an honor to bring people together through his love for dance.

“I've seen people become friends since January, and I see them practice outside of practice,” Marquez said. “I've always had a dream to do my own dance classes, but to do it in a way where people can connect and just be themselves. It's far greater than that.”

Queer Latin Dance OC offers lessons to dancers of all experience levels and has created a new community hub in Orange County.

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Destiny Torres

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LAist

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Want to dance? 

Salsa, cumbia and bachata classes are held three nights a week on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Classes are $20 per session, but Marquez also offers a free beginner salsa class every Monday.

You can register for the class of your choice here. Payments are taken in person.