Madison Square Garden sues Wired over report claiming venue kept LGBTQ+ celeb database

This story originally appeared on Them.

After Wired published a story earlier this month alleging that Madison Square Garden kept an ongoing database that categorized nearly 100 celebrities as “LGBTQIA,” the venue is now suing the tech outlet as well as the writer, Noah Shachtman, who led the reporting.

Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corp., the entity that owns the venue, filed a lawsuit in the New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan on July 16 against Wired, Shachtman, co-writer Maddy Varner, and Wired global editorial director Katie Drummond. The suit explicitly denounces Wired’s reporting, alleging that Wired “combed the dark web, obtained data stolen from MSG by an extortionist hacking group, and cherry-picked fragments of that data to manufacture a false narrative portraying MSG as targeting the LGBTQIA community for discriminatory purposes.”

The lawsuit specifically called out Wired’s July 9 story “Madison Square Garden Kept a List of Gay Celebrities” and said that the implication that the MSG Entertainment is anti-LGBTQ+ is false, calling the reporting “shockingly unethical conduct,” and alleging that the defendants “should be held accountable for their inexcusable action.”

“Nothing could be further from the truth — MSG is a fervent supporter of the LGBTQIA community with a long history of inclusion, not exclusion,” the lawsuit reads.

Per Wired’s reporting, which was based off a database leaked by hacker collective Shiny Hunters, the venue allegedly kept a list of LGBTQ+ celebrities who might visit the venue, including a specific label indicating their gender identity or sexual orientation. The database of venue VIPs allegedly included labels such as “low risk,” for people such as Edie Falco and Ben Stiller, “medium risk” for rappers such as Fat Joe, and “high risk” for rapper Lil Jon.

According to Wired, the database included the label “LGBTQIA” for celebs such as Ricky Martin, Phoebe Bridgers, transgender Geese guitarist Emily Green, and bisexual rapper Ice Spice, who was at the venue earlier this month for Taylor Swift’s wedding.

Wired’s reporting on the database comes after an April report, also lead-authored by Shachtman, alleging that MSG tracked a trans woman’s movement through the venue, including bathroom breaks, down to the second.

MSG’s lawsuit alleges that Wired’s subsequent promotion of the article after publication was done “without concern for the truth” and with “intent to cause maximal public impact.”

“With the apparent permission of its parent company, Wired has published several false articles about MSG that are more focused on manipulating information to fit a salacious story than with reporting the facts,” the lawsuit reads.

In the lawsuit, MSG Entertainment says that it gathered names of LGBTQ+ celebrities only to extend invitations to LGBTQ+ events, as well as identify “sales and sponsorship opportunities,” as well as to make charitable donations.

“Defendants knew there was no nefarious ‘list’ of gay celebrities, and Defendants knew that the stolen data contained dozens of fields per customer—including mundane fields such as address, phone number, and dietary restrictions—used for relationship management purposes, not discrimination.”

Wired stood by its “accurate reporting” in a statement on social media.

“We stand by this reporting, and plan to vigorously defend it against this baseless and ridiculous lawsuit,” the outlet wrote.

“We look forward to continuing our coverage of MSG, and on billionaire James Dolan’s use of technology across his entertainment empire,” Wired wrote on X. “It’s one part of our wider mission and the critical job of journalists, now more than ever: holding power to account.”

Per the lawsuit, MSG is seeking a correction or retraction of the article, along with punitive damages at trial.

Get the best of what’s queer. Sign up for Them’s newsletters.