{"id":5275,"date":"2026-07-19T14:04:39","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T14:04:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=5275"},"modified":"2026-07-19T14:04:39","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T14:04:39","slug":"madison-square-garden-sues-wired-magazine-over-lgbtq-tracking-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=5275","title":{"rendered":"Madison Square Garden sues Wired magazine over LGBTQ+ tracking report"},"content":{"rendered":"<article>\n<div>\n<p><span>NEW YORK &#8212; The owners of Madison Square Garden have filed a defamation lawsuit against Wired magazine, claiming an article it published this month had manufactured a \u201cfalse narrative\u201d that the company was tracking the LGBTQ+ community for \u201cdiscriminatory purposes.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=5273\">Game 98: Will Red Sox make it 13 straight? Lineups and preview for series finale vs. Rays.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>The article, published July 9 and titled \u201cMadison Square Garden Kept a List of Gay Celebrities,\u201d describes an internal \u201ctalent database\u201d maintained by the Madison Entertainment Corp. that contains information about roughly 40,000 VIP guests from the business, tech, entertainment and sports worlds who frequent the arena in midtown Manhattan.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The database also includes information about the race, gender identity and sexual orientation of a small number of those celebrities, according to the article\u2019s authors, Noah Shachtman and Maddy Varner. Ninety-three guest entries are marked as \u201cLGBTQIA,\u201d including those for singers Ricky Martin and Phoebe Bridgers.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><span>Why exactly the venue notes this information in its database \u201cis unclear,\u201d the authors wrote.<\/span><\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><span>Get Power Play<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span>A twice-weekly dive into the power players and moves driving business in Massachusetts, authored by long-time business columnists Shirley Leung and Jon Chesto.<\/span><\/div>\n<div>\n<div><label>Enter Email<\/label><\/p>\n<div><button>Sign Up<\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span>Prior Wired reporting from Shachtman and Robert Silverman has described Madison Square Garden\u2019s extensive surveillance operation, including its use of facial-recognition technology, and claimed that the security team put in place by its billionaire CEO, James Dolan, tracked a transgender woman throughout the arena over a two-year period.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The MSG Entertainment lawsuit argues that the July article and its promotion \u201cfalsely implied\u201d that the arena, where the Knicks play and many stars perform, intended to \u201cidentify, track, rank, exclude or discriminate against LGBTQIA celebrities, artists, guests, fans and patrons because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Instead, the \u201copposite is true,\u201d according to the lawsuit, which claims that Madison Square Garden and \u201cits affiliated entities\u201d have contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to Pride and LGBTQ+ organizations while partnering with Pride-associated sports and youth programs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Besides Wired and other affiliated corporate entities, the lawsuit names Shachtman, Varner and Katie Drummond, the magazine\u2019s global editorial director, as defendants.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The suit seeks compensatory and punitive damages as well as the \u201ccorrection or retraction of the false and defamatory statements and implications,\u201d among other remedies.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>When reached for comment Saturday, a spokesperson for MSG Entertainment referred to a Thursday news release from the company, which describes the July article as \u201cunethical and inflammatory.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=5271\">We talked with Matt Damon about his intense \u2018The Odyssey\u2019 experience and why Boston will always feel like home<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>Drummond said in a statement Saturday that she was \u201cproud\u201d of the magazine\u2019s work, adding, \u201cI\u2019m looking forward to continuing our accurate and newsworthy coverage.\u201d In a separate statement, which the magazine posted online on Thursday, it called its reporting \u201caccurate\u201d and the lawsuit \u201cbaseless and ridiculous.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The statement added: \u201cWe look forward to continuing our coverage of MSG, and on billionaire James Dolan\u2019s use of technology across his entertainment empire. It\u2019s one part of our wider mission and the critical job of journalists, now more than ever: holding power to account.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Varner could not be immediately reached on Saturday, and Shachtman referred comment to the magazine, which had removed a paywall from the article following the lawsuit.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Beyond tracking some celebrities\u2019 sexual orientations, Madison Square Garden\u2019s talent database also assigns a \u201crisk score\u201d to roughly 400 VIPs, according to Shachtman\u2019s and Varner\u2019s reporting.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>For example, rapper Fat Joe, a huge Knicks fan, is labeled \u201cmedium risk,\u201d as is Anna Wintour. Hip-hop stars Freddie Gibbs and Lil Jon are \u201chigh risk,\u201d while some celebrities, like rapper Lil Tjay, are banned from the arena altogether.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The database was part of a much larger collection of company documents, including internal emails and other corporate information, released in June by hacker group ShinyHunters, which often engages in cyberextortion.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The data was leaked after Madison Square Garden \u201cfailed to reach an agreement\u201d over a ransom request from the group, according to three class-action lawsuits recently filed against the company.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In its lawsuit against Wired, MSG Entertainment claims that the data stolen by ShinyHunters &#8212; including the information about some guests\u2019 sexual orientations &#8212; was taken from a standard customer relationship management, or CRM, platform, \u201cthe purpose of which is to serve MSG\u2019s customers and to further inclusion,\u201d including by extending invitations to LGBTQ+-related events.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=5269\">Why \u2018Modern Lovers \u2018Live\u2019\u2019 remains an unpunk classic<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>This article originally appeared in The New York Times.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The owners of Madison Square Garden have filed a defamation lawsuit against Wired magazine, claiming an article it published had manufactured a \u201cfalse narrative\u201d that the company was tracking the LGBTQ+ community for \u201cdiscriminatory purposes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5274,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - 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