By now, we have all seen the unnecessary power flex by the Beverly Hills police, shutting down a positive panel aimed at discussing and uplifting the culture thrown by NBA intellectual and social activist Jaylen Brown. The Boston Celtics star and NBA champion is one of the most positive and socially conscious men in the NBA.
Beverly Hills Police Shut Down NBA Star Jaylen Brown’s Positive Event For 200 People: Say He Didn’t Have Permit
His IQ is probably higher than all of the police officers combined, who claimed that there was a permit issue and had to shut down the event. In the video, you can see that Brown is shocked when Beverly Hills police come through to shut down the event that Brown spent reportedly $300K on to rent the spot and prepare.
On Sunday, before the All-Star Game, the City of Beverly Hills released a statement saying that an “event permit had been applied for and denied” due to previous violations at the event address. Further specifics aren’t known.
“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 city said, in part.
Jaylen Brown Says Beverly Hills Police Statement Is Inaccurate
But on Sunday, after the All-Star Game at the Intuit Dome in Southern California, Brown completely disputed the statement.
“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 [and] we were insubordinate,” Brown said, via ESPN. “I know how to follow the rules. I’m smart enough to follow the guidelines. It just seemed like somebody didn’t want whatever we had going on to go on because out of everybody that was doing something, it seemed like I was the only one that gets shut down.”
Brown also posted to social media to express his frustration with the police destroying his event.
“Beverly Hills is so trash I’m offended had a great panel about the future of culture with great guest people worked hard for this how dare yall,” Brown lamented.
Seven Police Cars Pulled Up To Oakley Founder Jim Jannard’s House To End Event
Brown reportedly had several events planned at a mansion in the Trousdale Estates neighborhood of Beverly Hills on Saturday, including a networking event and a panel discussion.
But on Saturday night, as if breaking up a 2 Live Crew show in the 80s or a Ray Charles show in Mississippi in the 50’s, police walked on stage at the panel to shut it down. There were reportedly at least seven police cars parked outside to disperse the crowd of 200 people.
Brown Rented Home Directly From Owner For Event: Claims No Permit Needed
Brown also explained on Sunday that the event was being hosted at Oakley founder Jim Jannard’s house. Brown, who has a sponsorship deal with Oakley, said the city’s statement about a permit “was not true.”
“We didn’t need a permit because the owner of the house, that was his space. We were family friends,” Brown said. “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.”
Brown posted a video of him speaking with a Beverley Hills police officer on social media, in which he said he felt like “we’re being targeted.”
Brown wouldn’t totally embrace the narrative of racial discrimination, but his response when asked if he thought the shutdown was racially-motivated implied something beyond a missing permit was at play.
“All I’m going to say is that everybody else that did something in activation, [there] seemed to be no issues,” Brown said. “It was 7 p.m. It wasn’t 10 p.m., it wasn’t 11 p.m., it wasn’t [midnight]. [It was] 7 p.m. … We’re doing a panel. We’re doing stuff that’s positive. There was nobody that was inconvenienced. [We weren’t] blocking traffic.
“It’s All-Star weekend, it’s Saturday night and it’s 7 p.m. What are we talking about?”
Brown Says Home Owner Considering A Lawsuit Against The City: Jemele Hill Chimes In
Brown said Jannard he was considering filing a lawsuit against the city because of the embarrassing intrusion on such a positive event.
“The owner seemed like he was pretty upset,” Brown said. “He wants to file a lawsuit because it’s his house. They’ve done multiple events there and there’s never been an issue. He’s done four or five events even that week, he said, and it was never an issue.”
Outspoken media personality Jemele Hill said the incident doesn’t surprise her because the Beverly Hills community is known for “selective enforcement” of events. In other words, too many Black folks in one space are often seen as a problem, regardless of how positive or enrichening the event is.
“I live in LA and everybody knows that Beverly Hills is on this type of time. JB rented a spot worth between $60M-$70M … trust me when I tell you they selectively “enforce” all the time,” Hill captioned under the video of Brown interacting with BHPD.
Fans React To Jemele Hill Comment On Jaylen Brown Event Shut Down
Hill’s comments morphed into an argument on how diverse Beverly Hills is.
“You are a visitor here. BH is very diverse. Plenty of rich folks from many ethnicities. Let’s sit this one out Michigan State,” one fan commented.
“Beverly Hills is one of the whitest and least racially diverse cities in California: 76.1% white, 2.0% Black, 8.8% Asian, and 6.8% Hispanic. This means Beverly Hills is drastically whiter and dramatically less Hispanic and Black than the state as a whole,” countered one netizen.
“BH is not very diverse guy. Stop with the rhetoric. If you don’t know what you’re talking about…Don’t comment,” another fan added.
One fan simply used the stats to dismiss any notion that Beverly Hills is a diverse community.
“According to the 2020 census BH is 77.9% white. You can sit this one out,” a person commented.
Jaylen Brown Shut Down Adds Drama To NBA’s No. 1 Rivalry
The incident is hardly funny, but one thing you will never see is Brown, who has lectured at Harvard, lose his cool. You probably won’t ever see the four-time All-Star ever suit up for the Lakers either.
“I know I play for the Celtics, and I know we’re in LA. But hey, I didn’t think y’all would do me like this,” Brown told the police on video.
