Less than three days after parting ways with Ye’s agency Donda Sports, Jaylen Brown has expressed an interest in supporting the basketball team at Los Angeles-area prep school Donda Academy.
The Celtics star announced his pledge to sponsor events “willing to host” the program after learning Donda Academy had been barred from competing in several upcoming tournaments amid the ongoing fallout stemming from antisemitic remarks made by the school’s founder Ye—the rapper and songwriter formerly known as Kanye West—in recent weeks. Donda Academy also reportedly abruptly shut down on Wednesday before announcing it would remain open for the rest of the school year a few hours later.
On Friday, Brown shared a message on Twitter encouraging all interested high school coaches and tournament coordinators to reach out to him in an effort to help the student-athletes affected by Ye’s actions.
“To any HS basketball coaches & event coordinators, These student athletes can’t be negatively impacted by this. I will sponsor any event existing or new, willing to host Donda Academy,” Brown wrote. “We all must ensure they complete their senior yr both academically & athletically. Contact me.”
Brown later doubled down on his commitment with another poignant tweet, which read: “We do not cancel our kids.”
Donda Academy boasts an impressive roster that includes top 2023 prospects Robert Dillingham and AJ Johnson, and had been set to compete in December and January in preeminent tournaments such as the Hoophall Classic (Springfield, Mass.), Kentucky Play-By-Play Classic in Louisville and the City of Palms Classic (Fort Myers, Fla.). The program recently lost former three-star recruit Chuck Bailey, who reportedly announced Thursday he intends to leave the team and school.
Brown and Rams star Aaron Donald, who joined Donda Sports around the same time last year, were the first athletes to cut ties with Ye on Tuesday. Adidas also ended a major sponsorship with the artist that same day.
“In the past 24 hours, I’ve been able to reflect and better understand how my previous statements lack clarity in expressing my stance against recent insensitive public remarks and actions,” Brown said in a statement Tuesday. “For that, I apologize. And in this, I seek to be as clear as possible. I have always, and will always, continue to stand strongly against any antisemitism, hate speech, misrepresentation, and oppressive rhetoric of any kind.”
Ye’s latest controversy began after he wore a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt at his Paris Fashion Week runway show earlier this month. He followed that incident by making antisemitic comments on Instagram and Twitter. He continued to spout the same rhetoric in an appearance on the Drink Champs podcast last week.
Ye has since been suspended on both social media platforms. Additionally, Peleton and Emmy-award winning HBO show The Shop: Uninterrupted are among the growing list of brands that have distanced themselves from the artist in response to his comments.
