SAN FRANCISCO — Last Saturday, Jaylen Brown hosted an event at a Beverly Hills mansion that was unexpectedly shut down by police amid NBA All-Star Weekend festivities.
As one of a handful of Celtics reporters covering All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles, I attended the event, which was an activation for Brown’s 741 Performance line.
Almost a week later — and several released statements later — the Celtics star is continuing to speak out about what he’s described as biases against him and 741 Performance, his shoe and apparell company, by the Beverly Hills cops.
The day after Brown’s event was shuttered, police released a statement asserting that he and his team had applied for a permit that had been denied — and shared that the property where the event was held had multiple previous violations.
On Thursday morning, four days after that, the police retracted that statement and apologized to Brown for the misinformation.
But the Celtics star is still “pissed” — as he said numerous times after the Celtics 121-110 win over the Golden State Warriors — and he’s not sure what his next steps will be.
“I feel like they kind of embarrassed me and my brand a little bit,” Brown said on Thursday.
“They put out a half ass apology that I’m not accepting.”
Let’s back up and take a look at what this saga is all about.
What was the Jaylen Brown event that Beverly Hills police shut down?
Brown’s event, hosted in collaboration with 741 Performance, was a watch party for Saturday’s All-Star festivities that was meant to culminate in a panel session that featured Andre Iguodala, cultural influencer Ben Williams, independent artist, Loretto, among others.
Brown said the intention was to create positive conversation centered around using one’s platform.
“I have different industries coming together — all just talking about what the future culture is,” Brown said. “Change doesn’t come from one entity in itself. It comes from multiple entities working together and seeing how we can be disruptive, but also be positive and push things forward — that’s what was taking place. Outside of that, it was like a watch party. People were watching the dunk contest, three-point contest. Some of you guys were there. We weren’t doing anything that was out of the norm for what goes on during All-Star Weekend. I think it’s evidence that we were being targeted.”
Around 7pm, police arrived at the scene and ordered tha the party be shut down.
I was at the event from about 2pm to 6pm and my firsthand observation was that it was not rowdy, crowded, or anything you’d ever expect to attract police presence. The place wasn’t overly crowded, people weren’t drinking a lot and the main activity was spectacting All-Star activites on a big projector screen, and chitchatting. Some people ate hamburgers, others played video games.
There weren’t really random people at the venue — just people that in one way or another were connected to Brown or 741 Performance. I left right as the panel was set to begin, and there were a bunch of cop cars outside — and I was truthfully very confused as to why, mostly because there was no crowd outside the home, lines, or loud music.
What exactly are the Beverly Hills police apologizing for?
On Sunday morning, shortly after the panel was shut down, Beverly Hills police gave the Boston Globe the following statement:
“An event permit had been applied for and denied by the City due to previous violations associated with events at the address. Despite the fact that the permit was denied, organizers still chose to proceed with inviting hundreds of guests, knowing that it was not allowed to occur. BHPD responded and shut down the unpermitted event.”
Speaking to the media after Sunday’s All-Star game, Brown strongly rejected that statement:
“That was not true,” he said. “There was no permit ever applied for. Jim Jannard, he’s the the creator of Oakley. I’m a brand partner in Oakley. They opened up the house to me.”
Brown also stressed that the event that was shut down was centered around education, culture, and learning — not something that ever should have become an issue.
“We’re doing a panel,” Brown said. “We’re doing stuff that’s positive. There was nobody that was inconvenienced. It was not, it wasn’t blocking traffic… It’s All-Star Weekend, it’s Saturday night, and it’s 7 p.m. Like, what are we talking about?”
Multiple times in his Sunday media availability, Brown fimly repudiated the statement that police gave to the Globe: “The statement they put out is completely false. I stand by that. My team operated with the utmost respect to the neighbors and everybody, and they were harassed to some degree. People can make of it what they want.”
For a few days, it looked like the story might just end there. But then, on Thursday, the police retracted their previous statement, confirming Brown’s sentiments. Beverly Hills city manager Nancy Hunt-Coffey put out the following statement:
”The City of Beverly Hills would like to correct information related to an event that occurred in the City last Saturday night, February 14, at the residence located at 410 Trousdale Place involving NBA All-Star Jaylen Brown and the Jannard family. Upon further internal review, the City has determined that its prior public communication contained inaccurate information. Specifically, no permit application was submitted nor denied for the event, and the residence does not have any prior related violations on record. The City takes full accountability for the internal error that resulted in the inaccurate statement being distributed and is working to ensure it does not happen again. The City’s previous statement about the weekend event at the Trousdale home was inaccurate, and on behalf of the City, I would like to apologize to Jaylen Brown and the Jannard family.
“The City has a responsibility to its residents and neighborhoods to ensure adherence to established regulations for events held at private residences. These are designed to support the safety and welfare of neighbors and attendees. City staff observed circumstances that are believed to be City Code violations and for that reason alone, the event was ended. The City of Beverly Hills commits to explore opportunities for collaboration with the Jannard family and Jaylen Brown on future community-focused events.”
Shortly after that statement, Brown turned to social media after the event to express his frustration with the turn-of-events:
He also shared an entire statement, acknowledging the police department’s correction — while also stressing that the event was private, invitation-only — and not a commercial event requiring a permit.
Where do things go from here?
Just a few hours after releasing that statement, Brown went on to tally 23 points, 14 rebounds, and 13 assists in a win against the Golden State Warriors on Thursday night, his first game since the incident.
But afterwards, he said the situation with the Beverly Hills police weighed on him throughout the game.
“I wasn’t even think about the game,” Brown said. “I was pissed — I was still pissed… but we came out, and just was aggressive, and played great basketball. I like the way our team is looking right now.
Brown was asked about what made me him choose to be so vocal regarding this incident, and said the concept of others having similar experiences in Beverly Hills was motivating.
“If it’s happened to me, it’s probably happened to numerous other people,” he said. “And from the looks of it, it has — a lot of people have gotten behind it, it’s gone viral. Beverly Hills, whatever they do there, they’ve done such things on multiple occasions.”
Brown said he’s not sure where things go from here, but he was disappointed in the city’s apology.
“I wasn’t trying to stir the pot. People may seem like I’m complaining, or like I’m just trying to make this into an issue. And it’s not — like I was just trying to enjoy my All-Star Weekend. I don’t think it’s fair to me or my brand that we were being targeted.”
“We prepared for this. We had a bunch of people fly from different parts of the world come in. We had people who had prepared thoughts, and were going to speak, partners who came in that collaborated. So it was just unfortunate, but then for them to come back and be like, ‘Oh, we messed it up, like we assumed, based off of biased assumptions, and whatever the case may be, we were wrong, but we would have shut y’all down anyway, because of’ — it’s some bullshit. It is some complete bullshit, and I got to speak for those who’ve had to deal with that bullshit, probably in the past.”
“I’m extremely offended — my team didn’t do nothing wrong,” Brown said. “We just was trying to have a good All-Star break. My first time being a starter, and it just leaves a bad taste in your mouth, for sure.“
