After an impressive win over the Houston Rockets on Monday and the start of a new regime under newly-appointed President Leon Rose, the story in New York last night was about Spike Lee’s incident with the team.
According to Lee, he was originally denied entry into MSG for reportedly using the “wrong entrance” and was actually being forced out before Lee outright refused to go willingly, at one point even daring the security team to arrest him.
Spike Lee is here sitting courtside watching the Knicks game. There was a disagreement over which entrance he could use. He was not kicked out.
— Brian Mahoney (@briancmahoney) March 3, 2020
Director Spike Lee denied entry to MSG. Rumors are circulating that MSG CEO James Dolan didn’t want the famed director to enter. #SpikeLee #MSG pic.twitter.com/0gZVaHDXBP
— BroTalk LIVE | News. Culture. Real Talk. (@brotalklive) March 3, 2020
Security tried to force him to go out and find another way in, despite his ticket having already been scanned. Eventually, they gave up and escorted him to his seat.
Spike Lee joined @firsttake to explain last night's incident at MSG. pic.twitter.com/xsjGHApDqH
— ESPN (@espn) March 3, 2020
The biggest issue for the Knicks superfan was the fact that MSG security asked him to leave the arena and that they failed to notify Mr. Lee of any regulation changes to entrances and exits. He also revealed that Dolan wanted to have a conversation with him, to which Lee refused. Spike had been using that entrance for over 20+ years and had last used it just a couple of days ago for an unrelated event — he was obviously caught off guard by suddenly being denied entry.
"I'm being harassed by James Dolan and I don't know why."
—Spike Lee pic.twitter.com/ca28qHYN63
— First Take (@FirstTake) March 3, 2020
Lee is officially done attending games for the rest of the season and is not on good terms with team owner James Dolan, who tried to shake hands with the disgruntled fan-favorite.
It’s Garden spin. I wasn’t shaking his hands. In fact, when he came over to me, I didn’t give him right away. I was sitting in my seat [arms crossed].
He said, “We have to talk.” I said, “Talk about what?” I said, “Mr. Dolan, I’ve been coming here for 28 years. Why was I not notified by email, text, phone?”
Unfortunately, these types of debacles have become normal for the Knicks. Even when things appear to be looking up, the franchise usually doesn’t go too long without enduring some kind of scandal.
This time, it just so happens to include one of their most loyal fans.
