Month: July 2023

Shortly after thanksgiving last year, 44-year-old lawyer kelly conron came to new york radio city concert hall to participate in her daughter’s performance, but was stopped by security personnel at the entrance for a simple reason: because her law firm is suing James Dolan, the boss of the concert hall. Under the order of dolan, all law firms and lawyers with litigation relations with the company under his name are not allowed to enter the venues he owns, even if many of them have not directly participated in the lawsuit or even have resigned. So Kelly, who was blacklisted, could only wait outside the concert hall. Afterwards, her law firm chose positive gang and directly sued Dolan. James Dolan At first, this incident only attracted the attention of some self-media (such as Ethan Strauss, a senior journalist who broke away from ESPN and flew alone), however, the incident soon developed in an uncontrollable direction-because Dolan used face recognition technology in all his venues when implementing the ban he issued, including Radio City Concert Hall and Madison Square Garden at Knicks home-the official statement is to ensure safety, but now everyone finds out, it turned out that this technology could also help Dolan, who was hidden behind the camera, find what he thought was “enemies” and impose what he thought was “reasonable” punishment on them. Obviously, there was a problem with Dolan doing this, but the lawyers who sued Dolan soon found that they underestimated the difficulty of the matter-with the help of various laws and legal aid invented by their peers, dolan could almost do whatever he wanted, but the lawyers themselves could only be tied to the same place. Finally, when they were helpless, they could only invoke a bill passed in 1941to attack Dolan: this is a clause aimed at protecting the freedom of drama/movie commentary, it is stipulated that the theater should not take revenge on the list because someone writes articles and makes bad comments. However, if this clause is used as the basis for litigation, even if the lawsuit is successful, the face recognition camera of the venue cannot be removed. Camera data map (serious) Lawyers racked their brains, hoping that Dolan would be punished more, but the angle they found was somewhat speechless-the liquor license held by Madison Entertainment Group (hereinafter referred to as MSG) required that its venues must allow the public to enter, unless someone causes damage, it poses a security threat. If Madison continues to target lawyers, its liquor license may be revoked. The chaos caused by the sudden jump from the dystopian plot of abusing face recognition to the possible prohibition of alcohol in the Knicks competition is absurd. Even if the prohibition order is really issued, it is only attempt an ineffective solution, and it can’t hurt Doran at all. On the contrary, this made him more arrogant, uncharacteristically facing the media publicly and showing how indestructible he was. “Welcome everyone-except those who took me to court, is there nothing wrong?” Dolan said in an exclusive interview on Fox TV. “The problem now is that I have been accused, and they still have the right to enter the venue and become customers? Our position is, no…… The garden must defend itself.” What’s more, Dolan printed out the head portrait of the head of the New York State Liquor Administration, saying that even if the government could not ban alcohol, maybe he would choose a game to ban alcohol on his own, so that the audience could experience the feeling of not being able to buy drinks. Then he would post the head portrait and contact information of the leader in the eye-catching place of the venue. He would complain to this person if he had any dissatisfaction. For Dolan, the attitude of New Yorkers is contradictory. The industry held by this billionaire is regarded as a proud symbol of New York’s wealth and culture. However, Knicks fans and media are begging him to sell the team year after year, and his various outrageous acts were also named “bullies” and “tyrants”. More than one media described him as Trump, but the New York politics, which has always dominated the Democratic Party, has a high tolerance for him-after all, the continuous political donations of the Dolan family for decades have been enough to shut up many people. Among them, there are many powerful people, such as Shelton Silva, who has been the Speaker of the New York State House of Representatives for 21 years. This New York Rangers iron fan is a frequent visitor to Madison Garden and has been re-elected as the speaker for 11th term. It has almost won the unanimous support of the Democratic majority, the former speaker’s return to Dolan was not limited to keeping more than 40 million tax breaks per year at Madison Garden, but also that he arbitrarily killed the new construction plan of New York’s western Stadium: originally, the project supported by billionaire Mayor Michael Broberg would have become the new home of New York Jets team and the possible Olympic hosting venue in the future-of course, it would also bring more competition to Dolan. As Dolan’s “protective umbrella”, Shelton Silva was involved in corruption cases in 2015 and was convicted in 2018. He was on bail in 2021and died of illness in January 2022. Andrew Cuomo, another Democratic boss in the state, is also closely related to Dolan. The former governor became Internet celebrity with CNN anchor brother during the epidemic, but he completely ended his political career because of the epidemic scandal and the necessary blow of sexual harassment charges. Cuomo served as governor for ten years and received nearly $300000 in donations from the dolan family in the first five years. When the epidemic was in hot water, cuomo reopened the advisory committee of new york and had a place for dolan. As for the current governor, Cathy Huo Chu, the political committee founded by Dolan invested at least 560000 dollars for her campaign as TV, digital and radio advertising expenses, while his family’s direct donation exceeded 250000. New York’s money is omnipotent, and Huo Chu is still silent on Madison’s face recognition dispute. Huo Chu You know, Dolan is a Republican, and his donations to the Republican Party and former President Trump are equally generous. And the boldness of these two bets really gave him the illusion of “King of New York”. Anyone who dared to offend him and Knicks (even if he only spoke as a fan who was dissatisfied with the team’s record) all had to face his anger. For example, Representative Max Ross, who represents New York, as a fan, expressed his hope that Dolan would sell Knicks in an interview with TMZ, as a result, dolan took revenge on him-in the way of spreading coins-he donated 50000 yuan to a political committee that specifically elected house republicans and hinted that more new york republicans would be funded in the future. As a result, Ross’s representative only had one term. After losing his seat in 2020, the election in the mid-term election last year lost again. Yang Anze, a politician in New York who once ran for the President (also a Knicks fan), complained: “criticizing Knicks has become a political offense. He can even donate money to your opponent on this reason, it’s ridiculous.” But the political wind is unpredictable. After Como fell to the altar, Huo Chu’s influence and voice were not enough for his predecessor. The performance of the new york state democratic party in the mid-term election last year dropped sharply by glasses. Behind the risk of “turning red” in the district, the democratic party’s factional struggle was fierce, the issue of face recognition is enough to make Dolan’s deadly enemies gather again. That is to say, on the one hand, Dolan is fighting against lawyers in almost half of the cities in this country called “lawyer governance”; On the other hand, he also needs to repel political opposition. Perhaps it was not painful for him to be deprived of the liquor license, but was the cost of the nearly $0.9 billion tax exemption that no one could shake for more than 40 years and the upcoming franchise of madison garden enough? Madison Garden, New York landmark, basketball Mecca For many years, Dolan has been threatening Knicks and Madison gardens to enjoy the convenience provided by the city. In 1981, MSG executives complained about operating losses. At that time, mayor ed koch proposed tax exemption measures, which mainly benefited the knicks and rangers owned by dolan, baseball giants and yankees and later basketable nets. However, koch had long said that his intention at that time was to keep the policy for ten years and cancel it after the operation improved. However, this became a problem that new york officialdom could not touch. Dolan took over two teams in 1999 and benefited for more than 20 years. The opposition voice in the state Assembly could not reach the climate. Former governor Como publicly supported continuing tax cuts. Officials can only use “moral obligation” to persuade Dolan to be more tolerant to the public. However, Dolan’s reply seemed to be copied from Trump’s PR textbook: “Any team in New York has tax cuts, you don’t think we should have it, then everyone should have it.” He also quoted the Bill of Rights as saying that private enterprises can refuse to provide services for those who do not want to serve. In order to cope with this face recognition crisis, Dolan indeed hired Hope Hicks, once known as Trump’s most effective assistant. When she went to the House of Representatives hearing recently to testify for the attack on January 6, her highlighted remarks included: “We all look like domestic terrorists now.” As for the garden franchise problem, it has existed since this venue was born. The garden used to hold charter of concession for 50 years, but because this ancient landmark venue was built on pennsylvania station, the station could not be renovated. Many people think this is unreasonable and the garden should be found in another location. However, MSG refused to move and claimed that any relocation plan would result in a loss of billions of dollars in New York and taxpayers. Not long ago, MSG has submitted a new ten-year license application, but the procedure will take several months, be subject to public scrutiny, and be voted by the New York City Council. Brad holman, the state senator who took the lead in opposing dolan, said that he hoped the city council could put pressure on dolan to cancel the targeted personal ban and restrict his use of face recognition technology. Holman also led several members of Parliament to promote the passage of a bill, bringing sports events into a long-standing legal jurisdiction, the act of “maliciously refusing customers with valid tickets to enter public entertainment or recreation places” is prohibited. They also recently sent letters to NBA and NHL at the same time, asking the two alliances to punish Dolan for abusing face recognition technology out of selfish revenge, “This is a very serious problem, because it may damage freedom of speech and access to the court.” However, there are few responses from higher-level agencies at present. The Attorney General of New York and the Manhattan District prosecutor are still in the stage of investigation and evidence collection, and only Dolan is required to hand in some documents. As for NBA, Xiao Hua, who was also a lawyer, kept silent and indulged in Dolan, that is to say, Dolan has done too much to the media (for example, he openly refused to give him the interview qualification of New York Daily News, which he hated most on the draft day), he was fined 50000 dollars only after being complained by the basketball Journalists Association. Dolan conflicts with the fans and revenge their criticism with the ban. The League has always turned a blind eye, that is, when Oakley was handcuffed by the police in full view of the public, Xiao Hua himself mediated from it, push for a private reconciliation between the two: Dolan no longer banned Oakley, but Oakley never went back to the garden. As a Knicks’ celebrity, Oakley beeped a few words because he was not satisfied with Knicks’ performance. As a result, he was directly driven out of the stadium by Dolan. After he expelled Oakley that year, Knicks further humiliated Oakley in an official statement, suggesting that he might have a drinking problem. But Dolan himself was sent to a nursing home by his father a few years ago when he became addicted to alcohol and drugs. It was vicious for him to expose people’s wounds like this. Stephen A- Smith, A hardcore Knicks fan, also often criticized Dolan, but he said long ago that he would not go back to the garden to watch the ball, so Dolan could not “expel” him either. Xiao Hua once commented on Dolan like this: “He is a real New Yorker.” It is hard to say whether this is a flattery of Dolan or a humiliation of New York. In fact, Dolan is only the ultimate symbol of 1% at the top of the pyramid in New York. He can be a member of Trump Sea Lake Manor or a director of Harvey wyndstein. He doesn’t need to care about political doctrine at all, nor does he really care about Knicks’s desire for champions. In this free country, he enjoyed real freedom. The operation in Brooklyn on basketable nets made Dolan’s always threatening to move teams in New York more like a bluff. Whether New York needs the Knicks or the Knicks need New York, it is now unclear. The situation of knicks was once regarded as the regret and shame of new york, but now it seems to be closer to the truth of this city. Dolan himself felt that the wind was changing. He said that in his father’s time, the atmosphere of the environment was more “civilized”: “at that time, everyone at least understood that you were working hard. They don’t necessarily judge your personality, whether you are a bad person or not.” Therefore, he thinks he has sufficient reasons to clear out fans, journalists and lawyers who are in the way, tell them they don’t like it and roll to Brooklyn to watch basketable nets (this is what he said to a 60-year-old Knicks fan). But except Dolan, probably everyone knows who should be banned from the garden. Welcome to our wechat public number “Houchang Village sports team” to see, there are more NBA, CBA related archaeology, comments and character content>> (Text/kewell)