Celtics' Brown weighs lawsuit vs. Beverly Hills

SAN FRANCISCO — Boston Celtics forward Jaylen Brown is considering legal action against the city of Beverly Hills, he told ESPN’s Andscape, after police shut down a private event he was hosting Saturday during NBA All-Star Weekend.

Brown told Andscape he was embarrassed and angered by Beverly Hills police shutting down his event around 7 p.m. Saturday without any discussions with him or the owner of the house. Brown previously said that shutting the event down based on the belief of officials who did not enter the home “raises serious due-process concerns” and led to “significant financial and reputational harm.”

“I’m not a legality type of pursuing guy, but you embarrassed my brand and my team. And I think that is unfair,” Brown told Andscape. “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.”

He added: “It’s hard to say that you were not being targeted.”

The 2024 NBA Finals MVP, speaking to Andscape after the Celtics’ 121-110 victory over the Golden State Warriors, said he spent $300,000 on the canceled event while his sponsors spent roughly $300,000 to $500,000.

The city of Beverly Hills apologized to Brown on Thursday, 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.”

The Boston Globe reported Sunday that an event permit had been rejected because of previous violations at the Beverly Hills home owned by Oakley founder Jim Jannard. Brown had said that was “completely false” since the event — to promote Brown’s Oakley performance brand, 741Performance — was a private, invitation-only gathering and not a commercial or public event that would require a 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 on Instagram. “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 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.”

Brown described those apologies on his X account on Thursday as 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 Thursday’s game, in which he had a triple-double. “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, et cetera. 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 bulls—.”

Off the court, Brown has a reputation as a socially conscious intellectual who has lectured at MIT and Harvard.

On Saturday, a panel discussion with National Basketball Players Association president Andre Iguodala was about to begin when the event was abruptly ended by police. Rap star LaRussell spoke on an earlier panel. There were also plans for an afterparty projected to host 200 guests.

“I’m not a legality type of pursuing guy, but you embarrassed my brand and my team. And I think that is unfair. And for you to continue to tell untruths in your apology statement, I feel offended by it.”

Jaylen Brown

“The event was to talk about future culture, future leadership, how industries are working together,” Brown told Andscape. “Change doesn’t come from one entity. It comes from everybody working together. I had leaders from different fields all talking about [what] the next generation could and should look like.”

Asked whether he felt the shutdown was racially motivated, Brown told Andscape: “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 was noncommittal about meeting with Beverly Hills officials when the Celtics return to Los Angeles to play the Lakers on Sunday.

“What is going to be said? It’s already over,” he told Andscape. “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?”

ESPN’s Baxter Holmes contributed to this report.