Jaylen Brown said that he’s leaving Kanye West’s Donda Sports earlier this week and spoke about that decision for the first time after the Celtics’ loss to the Cavaliers on Friday night at TD Garden.
“What would have happened if I stayed?” Brown said. “I work hard to be able to have the platform that I have and use it to be a voice for the voiceless. So to potentially maybe have to sacrifice that platform, I don’t think that would be the right decision, so I had to do what we have to do.”
After explaining his decision, Brown continued to talk passionately about wanting to help the students impacted by the reported mlosing of Donda Academy, a school that was founded by Kanye West in 2022.
“In terms of Donda Sports and those kids, that’s the emphasis I’m on right now,” Brown said. “These kids have nothing to do with what’s really going on. They don’t deserve to abruptly have their season end, or abruptly have their school year cut or diminished because of the actions of others. So I’ve been trying to lean in to get resources together to make sure that doesn’t happen. We live in a society where people see a headline and they feel like they know everything about a situation. I spent a lot of time with Donda, teaching, building relationships with those kids, those parents.
“The only thing they are guilty of is trying to get a unique opportunity to get ahead in life. It’s a lot of great events, opportunities and resources that were designed into that curriculum. For me — for you guys, maybe, it’s an association affiliated to Kanye West, but to me, it’s a school with kids, with parents, with teachers that have names and faces that I got to work with. So I look at that situation differently. I plan to use my platform to make sure those kids get what’s promised to them. Yes, a lot is going on, but I think that’s where the line is drawn. Education is key, and I think I’ve been about education my whole entire career. You can check my track record. I’m going to continue to fight for those kids and fight for kids in neighborhoods that necessarily don’t have people fighting for them. In this case, it’s a lot of opportunities and resources to a lot of kids, and it’s so much to unpack. I could talk up here about what’s being said and what’s not being said, and I don’t want to keep you guys here all night, but like I said before, these kids have nothing to do with what’s going on. Everybody feels like they know everything about a situation, but I spent time there. A lot of great families, teachers, and that’s what I see. So I’m going to try to make sure everything that’s promised to them in the foreseeable future and anybody who wants to align, contact me.”