James Dolan’s facial recognition penalty isn’t reserved solely for him or the lawyers involved in the lawsuit against Madison Square Garden and its subsidiaries, but he’s been critical of the Knicks and Rangers owners on social media. It reportedly influences fans and even celebrities.
A week after The Post reported that he was denied entry to Radio City Music Hall to meet the Rockets because his mother’s law firm was on a lawyer exclusion list, another report published Thursday said: , detailing how people allegedly ran into similar problems with MSG’s security due to public disclosure. Including one person who was critical of Dolan and told him to “sell the team” online.
Additionally, according to sources cited in Ethan Strauss’ report on Substack, The Garden uses a graduated penalty system to distinguish offenders.
For example, Merrill Lynch financial adviser Brett Klein said in a Substack report that after once commenting on Dolan’s band’s Facebook page that he would “sell the team,” he was regularly warned via facial recognition software that he had been warned against Knicks. He claims he is being harassed by security guards at Rangers games. , JD & The Straight Shot. Klein added that he was warned at least 10 times by MSG security personnel.
Knicks legend Charles Oakley was arrested in 2017 after he was infamously ejected from a game at the Gardens by security guards. Meanwhile, Spike Lee, a filmmaker and big Knicks fan, was denied entry through the Garden employee entrance in 2020. Will you treat me like Charles Oakley? ”
According to the Substack report, Lee is still on the arena’s code of conduct list as a Code 2 offender for six category levels from 0 to 5. Code 2 is described as “I know you are in the building at all times”.
“Spike Lee is Code 2 because he is rarely approached. He may have had Code 3 status, [a] “We went public with a confrontation with security over the choice of admission, which resulted in bad press for the Knicks,” the story said. This is due to Doran’s preference as to where spikes should not be allowed.
“Sources say Dolan doesn’t want to be ‘behind the scenes’ with the director because of the insult to Lee’s public comment.”
The cited MSG code system describes Code 0 violators as being barred from entering the building at certain events, and Code 5 as a permanent ban.
Code 1 is designated for VIP and is the only positive rating on the list. Code 3 is described as requiring security to “converse with”. [the] Someone to let them know they are in the building. ’ This seems to be Klein’s category, based on his clear description. Code 4 is stated as a need for “conversation informing them of what they have done is unacceptable and unacceptable”.
Actor and outspoken Knicks fan Michael Rapaport was reportedly given a Code 5 designation and was banned from the facility entirely for his criticism of Dolan.
“Rapaport is a 5. He’s banned. He’s going to be approached by senior executives. Most likely, his case will be more than overseer,” the source said in a statement. “Now the way they do it, we have lawyers who attend every event in every venue, just venues, Beacon Theater, Radio City, Arena, not clubs. They’ll have conversations, too.” A cop was approached to lock his ass for trespassing if he tried to get into a fight.
A spokesperson for MSG said, “This was written by an unqualified blogger and contains multiple inaccuracies and factual inaccuracies.”