MSG’s leaked celebrity database is as weird as it is unsettling.
A leaked Madison Square Garden database has raised fresh questions about how the vevenuenue tracks its celebrity guests.
Reports claiming it secretly assigned “risk” ratings to hundreds of VIPs while also labelling dozens of public figures as “LGBTQIA.”
According to WIRED, the internal database, first uncovered by hacker collective ShinyHunters, contains more than 39,000 entries spanning celebrities, politicians, athletes and business figures.
While most names carried no additional tags, around 400 celebrities were reportedly assigned internal risk ratings ranging from “flag” and “low risk” to “medium risk” and “high risk.”
According to WIRED, the ratings often reflected whether someone had publicly criticised Madison Square Garden owner and New York Knicks executive chairman James Dolan.
One of the stranger examples is Fat Joe, who is widely known as a Knicks superfan and supporter of Dolan. The report claims he was classified as “medium risk” because of his association with Jadakiss, who publicly criticised Dolan in 2020.
“It’s a really, really paranoid, terrible system,” one source told WIRED.
The database also reportedly labelled 93 celebrities as “LGBTQIA,” including Ricky Martin, Phoebe Bridgers, Emily Green and Ice Spice, who the system reportedly classified as “low risk.”
Why Madison Square Garden included those labels remains unclear.
“I’ve never met James Dolan. I don’t know the higher-up leadership at Madison Square Garden. But, like, there does seem to be a bit of a pattern here.” Evan Greer, director of digital rights organisation Fight for the Future, told WIRED.
“They just seem overly interested in queer and trans people in their venue.”
Greer’s comments reference an earlier WIRED investigation alleging that Madison Square Garden security closely tracked a transgender Knicks fan’s movements.
Reportedly documenting everything from when she scanned her ticket and ordered drinks to her time spent in the women’s bathroom.
Security allegedly compiled an 18-page dossier despite an employee allegedly stating she posed no threat.
Madison Square Garden has strongly disputed the reporting.
In a statement provided to Them, an MSG spokesperson said, “WIRED’s reporting is inaccurate and false. MSG is pursuing legal remedies.”
The question now hanging over the MSG isn’t who’s sitting courtside, it’s who’s watching from behind the scenes.
