Photo Credit: Frank Franklin Ii/Associated Press

Madison Square Garden Now Uses Facial Recognition to Ban James Dolan’s ‘Enemies’

We all know that New York Knicks owner James Dolan isn’t exactly known as someone who appreciates criticism.

Dolan previously had fans thrown out of the arena for chanting ‘sell the team’ or other chants directed at him. The fans though, are in great company, as not only other fans have had similar destinies, but also Knicks legends and celebrities, such as Charles Oakley and Ethan Hawke.

But Dolan’s pettiness seems to reach new levels every time and it appears that he doesn’t like lawyers doing their job either. 

In October, Madison Square Garden Entertainment banned a lawyer and revoked his Knicks season tickets he had since the 1970s, because he represents clients who are suing Madison Square Garden.

In fact all 60 of his firm’s lawyers got terminally banned from every game, concert and other event at its venues.

In the meantime, this has indeed led to an attorney getting kicked out of a Knicks game. The Lawyer, Alexis Majano, revealed that he was flagged by facial recognition technology at the Garden, as soon as he was headed into the game against the Celtics with his friends, he was stopped on an escalator.

Per the New York Post:

“A gentleman in a suit stopped me and said, “Are you Alexis Majano? The manager wants to speak with you,” he said. “I noticed security had blocked off the exit.”

One of the workers, who was decked out with a body cam, informed him that the conversation “was being recorded” — then began to grill him, he said.

Majano said the employee asked if he works for the law firm Sahn Ward Braff Koblenz — which recently filed a lawsuit on behalf of a fan who fell from a Skybox at Madison Square Garden during a Billy Joel concert.

Majano, who works for the firm but isn’t involved in the case, said the worker had a long list of attorneys he’d apparently been instructed to kick out.

“He handed me a list of 20 to 30 pages of random names and firms. He asked me … ’Do you work for Sahn Ward? Are you an attorney?’ I said yes,” Majano said. 

“They explained very briefly: Any firms with litigation against MSG are banned,” he continued. “I was shocked.”

When Majano asked the worker how the venue had identified him, “He said, ‘We caught you on facial recognition.”

“I was fairly certain they were right because I didn’t show ID — the tickets didn’t have my name on them,” he said.

The employee then forced Majano to leave, spoiling his plans for the night, Majano said.