Jaylen Brown opens up about Beverly Hills event shutdown: ‘Some bulls—‘ originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
Jaylen Brown had just posted his third triple-double of the season, racking up 23 points, 15 rebounds and 13 assists to power the Boston Celtics’ rout of the Golden State Warriors.
But when he spoke to reporters Thursday night, basketball was the furthest thing from his mind.
Brown spent the majority of his postgame media availability discussing an incident that occurred during NBA All-Star weekend in Los Angeles in which a brand event for his 741 Performance company was shut down by Beverly Hills police.
“We had a brand activation event,” Brown explained to reporters. “A lot of money was spent on it. Oakley was a great partner of ours. I was just trying to enjoy my time, I wasn’t trying to to bother nobody, and that got taken away, and it got shut down.”
Beverly Hills police shut down Brown’s event around 7 p.m. local time, claiming that Brown’s team didn’t have a permit for the event. Brown was streaming on Twitch at the time and documented his exchange with a police officer on the scene.
After Brown expressed his frustration on social media, the Beverly Hills PD issued a statement noting that “an event permit had been applied for and denied by the City due to previous violations associated with events at the address,” which was the home of Oakley founder Jim Jannard.
On Thursday, the Beverly Hills PD issued another statement, clarifying that Brown’s team didn’t even apply for a permit in the first place, and that the home “does not have any prior related violations on record.”
Brown acknowledged the clarification but noted the damage was already done.
“I feel like (they) kind of embarrassed me and my brand a little bit, where people were making assumptions, saying that we didn’t go file the proper permits,” Brown said Thursday. “We found out that was a lie. They put that in their statement. So, why even put that out there in the statement in the first place, if it wasn’t the truth?
“And then, they said the house had violations. That was a lie as well. And then even in the apology, they put out that. So, when do the lies stop?”
“I just wanted to enjoy my weekend,” Brown continued. “I wasn’t thinking about trying to get into it with the police department, or get into it with Beverly Hills. I’ve never had an issue with Beverly Hills. It’s All-Star Weekend at 7 p.m.
“I just wanted to enjoy myself, and I feel like that got taken away. And I got embarrassed to some degree. … It’s just all around, just a bad look. Leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I’m extremely offended. My team is offended still. I’m not sure what the conclusion is going to be. All I know is that that was some bulls—.”
The police department issued its apology just hours before Thursday’s game, and Brown admitted he still had the incident on his mind when he took the court.
“I wasn’t even thinking about the game tonight,” Brown said. “I was pissed. I was still pissed from (the apology).”
Ironically, Brown will be back in Los Angeles this weekend, as his Celtics take on the Lakers at 6:30 p.m. ET on Sunday night. And judging by Brown’s comments, this is a situation that remains unresolved.