Jim Brown passed away on May 18, 2023 at the age of 87. The former NFL player’s death has led to many stories being remembered – both good and bad – about the polarizing icon. This includes ESPN’s Michael Wilpon telling the story of the time Brown invited members of rival Los Angeles street gangs, the Crips and the Dudes, to his home for a “surreal” and peaceful summit during the 1992 Los Angeles riots.
Brown is a very complex character who has lived an amazing life. This included being the greatest kicker in NFL history, an outstanding civil rights leader for the black community, and a Hollywood actor. It also included multiple arrests for acts of violence, including several against women.
While others will recount the ups and downs of Brown’s life, Sorry for the interruption Co-host Michael Wilpon remembered the legend by sharing an incredible story of the 1992 Los Angeles riots and Brown brokering a piece between LA’s most notorious gangs.
Michael Wilpon covered the LA Riots ending up in a unique ‘top’
In the spring of 1992, the streets of Los Angeles, California, erupted in violence after a jury acquitted four LAPD officers of the tape-recorded beating of black motorist Rodney King.
The six-day riot resulted in arson, vandalism, assaults, and killings, as well as more than $1 billion in damages in the South Central and Koreatown neighborhoods of Los Angeles.
During the racially charged uprising, a young Californian, Michael Wilpon, was covering events for the Washington Post, with whom he participated in PTI co-host podcast, The Tony Kornheiser Show.
In Los Angeles, Wilpon got “a tip that Jim Brown is going to have this thing — this top — at his Hollywood Hills house. Crips and blood,” the host recalled. “Even as I say it now… it sounds apocryphal. what are you talking about? Krebs and blood? Los Angeles was on fire.”
So, in true ’90s fashion, Wilpon got word to Brown through mutual communications that he wanted to talk to him, and Brown called the reporter into his hotel room. The former royal representative invited Wilpon to his house to witness the meeting, and gave him “turn-by-turn” directions in the days before GPS.
The reporter-turned-talking-head then headed to Jim Brown’s house for what he now calls “the most surreal night of my life,” where he stood on Brown’s backyard under the famous Hollywood sign and watched “LA burn” while an incredible meeting was taking place inside.
Jim Brown brokered peace on the streets of Los Angeles in 1992
When Michael Wilpon drove into Jim Brown’s home in late April or early May of 1992, what he experienced next was nothing short of amazing.
“I get there, and people are already lined up,” Wilpon said with Kornheiser. “And I’m thinking, There must be a man in uniform, a policeman in uniform. There must be someone at the door. How do you have Crips and blood in your house, and there are no metal detectors?”
The gathering host quickly answered that question.
“Jim Brown says to the people coming in, ‘If you’re carrying something, put it away. You’re putting it here. You’re not bringing anything into my house. We’re not going to have that.'” Wilpon recalled, amazed. “The most dangerous people at the time were in Southern California who are part of The reason the city is on fire, they just are – because Jim Brown said, ‘You don’t bring that into my house. He had the moral authority, and the men looked at him as if he was going to kill them, and they didn’t.”
the PTI The host went on to reminisce, noting that news anchor Ted Koppel was also present that night, as was fellow sports journalist Jim Gray, who was so “horrified” by the situation that he “stood by the door all night.”
He also notes that Brown ordered some gangsters to help him with his story for the newspaper, including one who remembers Wilpon clearly aka “Lil’ the Beast”.
In the end, the most amazing part was that that night Brown told Crips and the Bloods that the gang violence had to end, and “for a while, it did.” And that was because of Jim Brown.
