Lee pays for his own season tickets but has rarely been to games the last few seasonsNBAE/GETTY IMAGES
Long before Spike Lee was in a "public war" with Knicks Owner James Dolan, his "standing at MSG changed because he took Charles Oakley’s side" after an incident in '17 that saw Oakley escorted out of MSG and later arrested, according to Stefan Bondy of the N.Y. DAILY NEWS. A source said that Lee was "looked at differently after that." Whether that contributed to the confrontation with MSG security last week is unknown, but "other celebrities have had their privileges revoked by Dolan" as well. A source said that director Woody Allen was "banned several years ago from Suite 200, which is a VIP club at MSG" for "refusing to do promotions for MSG." If Allen "still attends Knicks games, he’s no longer being showed on the MSG Network telecast." Actor Ethan Hawke said that he "stopped receiving free tickets because he criticized the Knicks’ handling of Jeremy Lin on 'The Jimmy Fallon Show.'" Actor Michael Rapaport also said that his "comped tickets were stripped because he supported Oakley." Bondy noted Lee "pays for his own season tickets but has rarely been to games the last few seasons" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 3/7).
FED UP: On Long Island, Steve Popper noted Dolan was "in his usual seat on the baseline Friday" and sitting next to him was team branding consultant Steve Stoute. During the game, the Knicks "opted to have the game operations crew try to drown out with volume the chants of 'Sell the team,' which have become a regular occurrence" with the "speakers blasting out loud music and every timeout filled with whatever noise-making exercise the game ops folks had at their fingertips." The chants now have "become as much a thing at the Garden of late as the mega T-shirt cannons" (NEWSDAY, 3/8). Popper in a separate piece noted the Knicks "had their smallest crowd in 13 years" last Wednesday against the Jazz. On Friday, they packed 19,499 fans into MSG, but by the "end of the game, about half already had abandoned the arena" (NEWSDAY, 3/8).
