Report: James Dolan cuts off Knicks media access after 'hate-filled rant' from WFAN host

·Staff writer

October 22, 2018 at 8:35 p.m.

James Dolan has reportedly retaliated to a personal attack by a radio personality by cutting off Knicks, Rangers access to her employer. (Getty)

In August, WFAN host Maggie Gray blasted New York Knicks owner and Madison Square Garden CEO James Dolan over a song he played with his band perceived to be about his friend Harvey Weinstein and sympathetic to the #MeToo movement.

On Monday, The New York Post reported that Dolan and MSG are retaliating by cutting off media access to WFAN and its parent company Entercom.

James Dolan, MSG respond to ‘hate-filled rant’

In short, the New York radio station and its parent company with radio stations across the country including Chicago and Los Angeles won’t have access to New York Knicks and Rangers players or MSG personalities beyond what is mandated by the NBA and NHL.

From The Post:

“Entercom aired a hate-filled rant directed towards MSG, its employees and its Executive Chairman in August of this year,” Kim Kerns, an MSG spokesperson, told The Post. “They chose to take no action to remedy this until the start of this season. Only after learning they would not receive special access to players and coaches did they elect to offer an insincere half-hearted apology. We wish them no ill will. However, we decline to carry on a business relationship. We will continue to afford Entercom league-mandated access only.”

Criticism stems from Isiah Thomas scandal

The “hate-filled rant” from Gray aired in response to Dolan’s song with his band called “I Should’ve Known” about men who don’t act while in the presence of other men committing acts of sexual abuse. Dolan is a friend of Weinstein, who is at the center of #MeToo controversy.

Gray called Dolan “a vile piece of trash” in light of a scandal under his watch where former Knicks executive Anucha Browne Sanders was awarded $11.6 million when a jury found that then-coach Isiah Thomas sexually harassed her. The jury found MSG and Dolan liable after Browne Sanders was fired for complaining about the harassment.

The Knicks re-hired Thomas two years later as a team consultant. He later became president of the WNBA’s New York Liberty.

Maggie Gray called James Dolan a “vile piece of trash” and a “disgusting human.” (Getty)

Maggie Gray called Dolan a ‘disgusting human’

Gray slammed Dolan on WFAN after the song’s release.

From a Post transcript:

“I can’t believe James Dolan thinks that we’re this stupid,” Gray said. “I can’t believe it took 11 years — 11 years, is that how long it’s been since the Anucha Browne Sanders case? Excuse me?! Somebody who can’t even understand or admit what happened in his own building now has some B.S. song about how he should have known about Harvey Weinstein? …
“You are a vile piece of trash. You let Isiah Thomas call this woman the b-word so many times she sued your ass, and she won! And then what did you do? In 2015, you brought Isiah Thomas back into the building to run the Liberty of the WNBA. You are a human embodiment of an online troll. People on Twitter couldn’t even come up with something that stupid.”

Gray realized she was risking media access

Gray also acknowledged in the rant that she was risking her media access.

“I might never get back into The Garden, even with a press pass, after this, and I don’t give a crap. I’d rather not step into that building that’s owned by this hypocrite and this disgusting, disgusting human.”

As it turns out, hers and her co-workers’ access has been cut off.

According to The Post, Gray expressed contrition for her choice of words and the personal nature of her statement, but stood by its content.

“Obviously, I’m disappointed that my words got conveyed that way by the Garden, that they were characterized as hate-filled,” Gray said on air Monday. “But what I’m hoping is everyone out there, everyone, just understand the context in which I went after Dolan and why I said the things that I said, the context of what’s happening now, what’s going on. It’s much bigger than sports. … Let’s not get hung up on a word or two that I may have said. Let’s keep the entire thing in context.”

An on-air apology from Gray for calling Dolan names last week apparently wasn’t enough to keep Dolan and MSG from retaliating.