Jaylen Brown is considering taking legal action against the city of Beverly Hills after police shut down a private event he was hosting last Saturday during NBA All-Star Weekend.
The Celtics forward spoke to the media following a 121-110 win over the Golden State Warriors Thursday night and told reporters he felt embarrassed and frustrated when Beverly Hills police shut down his event around 7 pm Saturday without any sort of discussions with him or even the owner of the house.
"I'm not a legality type of pursuing guy, but you embarrassed my brand and my team. And I think that is unfair," Brown said during his postgame comments. "And for you to continue to tell untruths in your apology statement, I feel offended by it. I will circle back with my team this weekend, and we will make a decision."
Brown also said; "It's hard to say that you were not being targeted," adding that he spent upwards of $300,000 on the canceled event while his sponsors spent roughly an additional $300,000 to $500,000.
The city of Beverly Hills released an official apology to Brown on Thursday hours prior to tip-off, noting that a previous statement about what led police to shut down the event was inaccurate. Brown has continued to take issue with the city's action, which he said was "based on biased information."
According to The Boston Globe report from last Sunday, an event permit was rejected because of previous violations at the Beverly Hills home owned by Oakley founder Jim Jannard. Brown said that was "completely false" since the event -- to promote Brown's Oakley performance brand, 741Performance -- was private by invitation-only and not a commercial nor public event that would require any sort of permit.
"Upon further internal review, the City has determined that its prior public communication contained inaccurate information," Beverly Hills officials wrote in a statement Thursday. "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."
Beverly Hills city manager Nancy Hunt-Coffey also apologized to Brown and the Jannard family but added that city staff "observed circumstances that are believed to be City code violations and for that reason alone, the event was ended."
In a social media post Thursday, Brown called the Beverly Hills statement a "half ass apology after the damage is already done."
"I wanted to enjoy myself, and I felt that got taken away," Brown told reporters after recorded a triple-double against the Warriors. "I was embarrassed. If it happened to me, I'm sure it happened to a bunch of people in the past. I look at it like that. There are probably a bunch of people that don't scream, falls on deaf fears, which is unfortunate. I'm not sure what the conclusion is. ... Even the statement that they put out, they included some stuff that wasn't true, even in the apology."So I don't think the apology is acceptable. I lost a lot of money [with our] partners. People were making assumptions that we didn't go through the proper protocols. So, all around it's just a bad taste in my mouth. I'm extremely offended. My team is offended. I'm not sure what the conclusion is going to be. All I know is it's some bullshit."
On Saturday, a panel discussion with National Basketball Players Association president Andre Iguodala was set to begin just as the event was abruptly ended by police. There were also an afterparty planed to host around 200 guests. Brown released his own statement in response to the city of Beverly Hills.
"While we appreciate the correction of those facts, the city has now stated the event was shut down because officials believed codes were being violated," Brown wrote via X. "A private gathering cannot lawfully be terminated based on assumption alone, particularly when no official ever entered the residence to observe conditions or verify any alleged violation."
Asked if he felt the event being shut down was racially motivated in any way, Brown responded with:
"I don't know if it was a me thing. I don't know if it was a demographic thing. I can't speak for them. All I know: We were targeted. People can infer the rest."
Brown didn't seem interested in any potential follow up meetings with Beverly Hills officials either when the Celtics return to Los Angeles to play the Lakers on Sunday.
"What is going to be said? It's already over," Brown said. "Can't get that moment back. Brand activation. All-Star Weekend. Can't get that back. All those people won't be there again. Plus, All-Star Weekend is over. It's like, what can you say?"
The Celtics (36-19) face the rival Lakers (34-21) Sunday at Crypto.com Center Sunday night, as NBC/Peacock have the tip-off at 6:30 pm ET.
Joel Pavón
No comments:
Post a Comment