Spike paid for Oak love: source
Lee said to be targeted by Dolan after backing Charles
Long before he was in a public war with James Dolan, Spike Lee’s standing at MSG changed because he took Charles Oakley’s side.
“He was looked at differently after that,” a league source said.
Whether that contributed to the confrontation with MSG security this week is unknown, but Lee said was he was accosted outside the elevator on orders from Dolan.
“Security is waiting for me like I just stole something out of Macy’s or something,” Lee said on First Take. “This comes from the top.”
Two days after Oakley was arrested and dragged out of the Garden in February of 2017, Dolan famously invited several former players — including Latrell Sprewell — to attend a game. It was a transparent attempt to show Dolan had support despite the Oakley fiasco. One of the players in attendance, Vin Baker, told the Huffington Post at the time that Dolan “called me sounding really sad asking me if I would come sit with him. Hadn’t spoke to him in 15 years.”
Lee, however, was clearly supporting Oakley. He wore a #34 Oakley jersey at his courtside seat and criticized Dolan for calling his friend an alcoholic.
“My wife went to UVA law school. She told me that’s defamation, potential defamation of character,” Lee said at the time. “And UVA is one of the best law schools. She told me that. I mean, how can you say somebody is an alcoholic? You just can’t, in my opinion. And even if the person was, why would you say that? I don’t know why you would say that. All I can do is wear my jersey.”
Other celebrities have had their privileges revoked by Dolan. A source told the Daily News that another director and longtime Garden presence, Woody Allen, was banned several years ago from Suite 200, which is a VIP club at MSG. Allen’s crime was refusing to do promotions for MSG, according to a source. If Allen still attends Knicks games, he’s no longer being showed on the MSG Network telecast.
Actor Ethan Hawke said he stopped receiving free tickets because he criticized the Knicks’ handling of Jeremy Lin on “The Jimmy Fallon Show.” Actor Michael Rapaport also said his comped tickets were stripped because he supported Oakley.
Lee pays for his own season tickets but has rarely been to games the last few seasons. The 62-year-old said Garden security ordered him to leave the arena Monday because he went through the wrong entrance. Lee said he used that entrance for over 20 years. MSG countered with a statement that Lee was warned “repeatedly” against using that employee entrance, and his accusations were “laughable.”