In April, Investigative sports journalist Pablo Torre partnered with Wired’s Noah Schactman to publish a report that New York Knicks owner James Dolan was using Madison Square Garden’s security team to surveil the online activity of people who were critical of him across the country.
“There’s this one teenager in Colorado, who said something on Twitter, and [Madison Square Garden chief security officer John C. Eversole] and the Madison Square Garden security staff went into freak out mode, and they actually called the local cops on this kid,” Schactman said on Pablo Torre Finds Out.
Torre followed up his initial reporting on Friday’s episode of Pablo Torre Finds Out, and played a modulated recording of an anonymous Knicks beat reporter, which, if true, confirms Dolan’s surveillance tactics.
“A few years back, I had a report, and then I get a call from the Knicks shortly after that. ‘I know who your source is.’ And I’m like, ‘I don’t play guess-the-source,’ and the person is like, ‘I know this is your source.’
“I asked, ‘Where is this coming from? Why are you so certain on this?’ The person says, ‘I know you had a conversation with this executive…’ I said, ‘You know what this conversation was? I was just offering condolences on the death in his family.’ And the person said to me, ‘Would you have offered your condolences to that person if he wasn’t your source?’ I said, ‘Yes! That’s what being a human being is!’ I said, ‘How did you know I spoke to that person? There was nobody around.’ And the person said, ‘You know us. We’re always watching.'”
It’s not the first time questionable behavior from Dolan has come under fire, and Max Kellerman recently called for the NBA to oust him from the league. Former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling was infamously forced out of the league after he was caught on audio promoting explicitly racist rhetoric, and as egregious as stalking fans is, Dolan is probably still a ways away from forcing league commissioner Adam Silver’s hand.
Still, if only to protect fans’ privacy and their fundamental rights, the NBA or perhaps the city of New York should step in and stop Dolan from turning the Garden into a surveillance state.
About Qwame Skinner
Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.