Look who’s talkin’ Dolan, Oakley ordered to chat
James Dolan and Charles Oakley have been ordered to talk it out.
The U.S. Court of Appeals scheduled a conference call between the warring sides on March 31, requiring that Dolan and Oakley attend with their attorneys. The order, which was uncovered by sports legal analyst Daniel Wallach and confirmed by sources, is the latest document to emerge from Oakley’s civil lawsuit against the Knicks owner.
It says that three hours must be allotted for the mediation, and history suggests it will contain some unpleasantries.
Oakley sued Dolan for defamation, assault and false imprisonment after he was arrested and banned from MSG in 2017. A Manhattan judge dismissed the lawsuit last month and the Garden extended an olive branch by releasing a statement that ended, “Maybe there can be peace between us.” Dolan also hired a brand consultant, Steve Stoute, who publicly expressed a desire to reunite Oakley with the Knicks.
But Oakley appealed the judge’s decision on the lawsuit — which led to this latest court order for mediation — and hasn’t backed down from criticizing Dolan. Not long after Spike Lee got into an argument with Garden security and said he was being harassed by Dolan, Oakley said the organization is run “like a plantation.”
A previous mediation attempt failed. Not long after Oakley’s ejection and arrest, NBA commissioner Adam Silver facilitated a sitdown between both sides with Hornets owner Michael Jordan joining via telephone. Jordan is close with Oakley and obviously an influential figure. At that point, Dolan had insinuated Oakley was an alcoholic in a radio interview.
Silver quickly released a statement after the meeting claiming that “both Mr. Oakley and Mr. Dolan were apologetic about the incident and subsequent comments.”
But Oakley told the Daily News recently he didn’t agree with that sentiment and left the meeting under the impression that Dolan might apologize to the fans and Oakley directly. That never happened.
“(Silver) released a statement without me knowing about it,” Oakley said. “We met. And we didn’t reach a conclusion. He said, ‘I’m going to call you later on and talk.’ I went back to my hotel and fell asleep. They called me about 10 times but I was asleep. And they still released the statement.”
Next week they’ll talk about it again.