SAN FRANCISCO — Jaylen Brown admitted he wasn’t even thinking pregame about the Celtics’ game against the Warriors on Thursday. On the way to the Chase Center, Brown found out the city of Beverly Hills released a statement regarding shutting down his event during All-Star weekend.
Brown already let his displeasure be known on social media, responding to the city’s statement. After the Celtics beat the Warriors, Brown laid into the city and said he wasn’t sure what the conclusion of the saga would be.
“I got embarrassed to some degree,” Brown said. “If it happened to me, then I’m sure it’s happened to a bunch of people in the past. So I look at it like that. ... I feel like that apology, even in the statement they put out, they included some statements that wasn’t true. So I don’t think that apology was acceptable.
“I lost a lot of money in terms of partners, etc., and people were making assumptions like we didn’t go through proper protocols. So just all-around, it was 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 it was some (expletive).”
Brown was in Los Angeles as part of the NBA’s All-Star festivities, named as an All-Star starter for the first time in his career. He set up an event Feb. 14 for his brand, 741 Performance, along with Oakley as a brand partner. The event was at the mansion of Oakley creator James Jannard. Brown said the night was to “use your platform and bring positivity to the community,” which included a panel element.
But at around 7 p.m. Feb. 14, Beverly Hills police shut down the event. Brown was recorded on a livestream speaking to a police officer, who said they applied for a permit but was denied leading to the shutdown. However, the city of Beverly Hills in its statement Thursday said that was not true.
“No permit application was submitted nor denied for the event and the residence does not have any prior related violations on record,” the city statement read. “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.”
City manager Nancy Hunt-Coffey also said in a separate statement that “city staff observed circumstances that are believed to be City code violations and for that reason alone, the event was ended.”
Brown released a statement of his own in response to the city through Jaylen Brown Enterprises, expressing the frustration that came from that night. Brown also said on social media that it was $300,000 “down the drain” due to the event getting shut down. It was clear Brown was still unhappy days later when speaking after the Celtics’ win Thursday.
“I was just trying to enjoy my time,” Brown said. “I wasn’t trying to bother nobody, and that got taken away and it got shut down. On top of that, I feel like they kind of embarrassed me and my brand a little bit. People were making assumptions and saying that we didn’t go file the proper permits. We found out that was a lie.”