LOS ANGELES – When Boston Celtics All-Star Jaylen Brown spoke with reporters after Sunday’s All-Star Game in Inglewood, Calif., the topic quickly went from basketball to an incident between Brown and the Beverly Hills Police Department a night earlier.
And Brown’s account of events stands in stark contrast to those of the Beverly Hills PD.
On Saturday night, police were called to a home where Brown was hosting what he called a “panel” — an event for his personal brand, 741, and Oakley, of which Brown says he is a brand partner.
But when police showed up, they said the event had to end because a permit for the event was previously denied.
“On Saturday, February 14, the Beverly Hills Police Department (BHPD) responded to an event taking place at a private residence in the Trousdale neighborhood of (Beverly Hills),” the BHPD told The Boston Globe in statement Sunday. “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.”
The claim about the permit was one of the issues that angered Brown.
“That was not true,” Brown told reporters. “We didn’t need a permit because the owner of the house, that was his space. We were family friends. He opened up the festivities to us so we didn’t have to. We never applied for one. … I didn’t have to pay for the house or anything. They just opened it up. I had to pay for the build-out, but it was hundreds of thousands of dollars wasted for an event that was supposed to be positive.”
Saturday night, a video showing Brown speaking with a police officer at the house was posted to social media. In the video, Brown is seen repeatedly asking why the event was being shut down, with the officer said “the City” was shutting down the event.
“(I’m) in LA, we’re just trying to have an event, a panel, talking about culture, talking about future, talking about leadership, and for whatever reason I feel like we’re being targeted,” Brown told the camera.
Back at the All-Star Game, Brown said the house belonged to Jim Jannard, the founder of Oakley, and that he did not have to pay to use the house for the event.
“I’m offended by Beverly Hills, by the statement they put out, like we applied for something and didn’t get it and we did it anyway,” Brown added. “Like we were insubordinate. I know how to follow the rules. … It just seemed like somebody, you know, didn’t want whatever we had going on, to go on. Because out of everyone to be doing something (in the neighborhood), I was the only one that gets shut down.”
During the interview, Brown repeated that several hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent setting up the event, and that the owner of the house is considering filing a lawsuit.
“It just leaves a bad taste in your mouth,” he added. “I don’t think the BPDH made the right call here. The statement they put out was not accurate.”
–Field Level Media