Yes, that's an incredibly bizarre headline, but we're talking about the New York Knicks here. Of course when you take a step back and think about it, this story makes total sense. Why wouldn't Woody Allen be declared an enemy of the state in Madison Square Garden? What with his glasses and neurotic behavior and supreme talent as a performer and all.
Knicks owner and chronic megalomaniac James Dolan reportedly banned the beloved actor from the VIP lounge at Madison Square Garden because he refused to do promotional work for Dolan's MSG Network or his personal charity.
Here's the story via the New York Post and Page Six:
Sources say Dolan had the Oscar-winning director banned from Suite 200, the VIP lounge at Madison Square Garden, after Allen refused to do any promotion for MSG Network or the Garden of Dreams Foundation.
Allen had been a regular for years in the suite, where models, pop stars and pro athletes gather before games and at halftime for free drinks and food.
“He got a call from someone at MSG saying they had bought the rights to air several of Woody’s movies on the MSG channel and wanted Woody to go on the air and talk about his movies or introduce them,” a Woody source told me.
“Woody said he would not be comfortable doing that. He has never done that for any show or network. They then said that this was a ‘reciprocal arrangement’ and that if Woody couldn’t go on TV for them, he should not eat in their VIP restaurant anymore. Woody said fine and thanked them for the many years he had enjoyed the space there.”
How insane with power does a person have to be to ban Woody Allen from your own luxury box for not repaying you with a favor? James Dolan is that kind of guy who does a favor for you just to ask for a much bigger one in return. Those people are just the worst.
Here's my question in all of this – MSG Network is airing Woody Allen movies?? Isn't it, you know, a sports channel? Or, is this a master plan for MSG to go toe to toe with Mike Francesa and YES Network in New York? As crazy as James Dolan is, remember this is a man that's hired Isiah Thomas multiple times to make basketball-related decisions, I wouldn't put it past him.
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