Madison Square Garden tracked the rich and famous, kept a record of who’s gay
Next time you see a celebrity courtside at the Knicks, just remember how they got there.
Jim Dolan by Getty/John Nacion
A database dedicated to tracking the rich and famous has been leaked by hackers, revealing how the CEO of Madison Square Garden decides who deserves a front-row seat at a Knicks game.
The world’s most famous arena has been keeping a database of famous celebrities for roughly 6 years.
Madison Square Garden (MSG) has been keeping a keen eye on all its celebrity guests using an internal database to categorize celebrities by “risk factor” and even sexuality, WIRED has revealed.
The MSG “talent database” has tracked nearly 40,000 of the world’s richest and most famous, from business moguls to Silicon Valley elites, politicians, and athletes, who have entered the arena.
Just recently, pop star Taylor Swift and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce tied the knot at the iconic venue, which is likely to host hundreds of celebrity wedding guests.
Of the nearly 40,000 public figures, roughly 400 have been silently assessed for risks.
Risk assessments might not seem controversial, considering MSG’s max capacity of nearly 21,000 – the arena has to assess anyone who may pose a potential threat to people or property.
However, this database doesn’t contain anything related to threats of physical harm or security threats – there’s a separate database for that.
The “talent” database is based solely on social media sweeps coordinated by MSG staff to see which celebrity has ever even slightly criticized Jim Dolan.
Jim Dolan, the heir to the Dolan dynasty
Jim Dolan is part of the Dolan family, a powerful and influential American business dynasty whose family tree includes Charles Dolan, founder of Cablevision and HBO.
Following Charles’ death, responsibilities were passed down to his son, including one very important business, Madison Square Garden.
Since his father’s passing, Jim Dolan has taken over the responsibilities of managing and owning MSG.
The arena has hosted the likes of Elton John, Billy Joel, and Michael Jackson, and is the home stadium of the New York Knicks.
In the music world, headlining at MSG signifies the height of their career and secures them legendary status.
But with great power comes an even greater ego, and Dolan (more so his team) goes to great lengths to ensure that celebrities seeking free tickets to the Knicks game have only good things to say about the chief.
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Social media scrutiny is not taken lightly
MSG management has been accused of conducting social media screenings of notable figures seeking complimentary tickets.
But if a celebrity has been identified as a risk, even a low one, it’s likely they've said something publicly that Dolan doesn’t like, a source close to the matter told WIRED.
Security keeps a watchful eye over online discourse about Dolan and the Garden’s wider management.
A text message exchange seen by WIRED confirms that MSG management once asked local police officers to confront a teenager in Colorado after discovering an unsavory social media post.
“They scared the crap out of some 14-year-old kid in Colorado,” the text message reads.
Not only are celebrities tracked by “SM (social media) concerns,” but the database also marks its talent by race, gender, identity, and sexual orientation.
Roughly 93 people are marked as “LGBTQIA” with notable figures like Ricky Martin, Phoebe Bridges, and Emily Green being labeled this way.
How do we know about this database?
MSG has managed to keep this talent tracker under wraps from at least the end of 2020 until June this year, when an infamous hacker gang claimed Dolan.
ShinyHunters posted Madison Square Garden Sports (MSGS), the company owned by Dolan, as its latest victim.
The hacker collective claimed it had stolen over 26 million records containing personal information of customers as well as internal corporate documents.
“This is a final warning to reach out by June 15th, 2026, before we leak along with several annoying (digital) problems that’ll come your way,” the attackers threatened.
While Cybernews noted that ShinyHunters’ claim wasn’t backed by a data sample, and therefore impossible to verify, the gang is one of the most prolific in recent months, and their claims typically turn out to be true.
