Madison Square Garden Has Been Secretly Tracking Queer Musicians
A Wired investigation has revealed that Madison Square Garden maintains a far more extensive database on celebrities than previously known, with some entries flagging individuals' sexual orientation and racial identity alongside a supposed "risk" level. The findings matter because they expose the scale of surveillance run by the venue's executive chairman, James Dolan, and because the data only came to light after it was stolen and leaked by a criminal hacker group, leaving thousands of people's private information exposed.
The database contains 39,539 entries covering politicians, athletes, business figures and musicians, of whom 93 — including Phoebe Bridgers, Ricky Martin and Geese's Emily Green — are marked as "LGBTQIA". Around 400 people were given a "risk" score ranging from low (Selena Gomez, Ice Spice) to high (Freddie Gibbs, Lil Jon, DaBaby), with security actively monitoring social media for negativity, particularly anything critical of Dolan. The same practices apply at The Sphere in Las Vegas and Radio City Music Hall, and MSG now faces several class-action lawsuits over the leak.