Report says Madison Square Garden database labeled dozens of guests as LGBTQIA

New reporting says Madison Square Garden security maintained a database that identified some celebrity visitors with an “LGBTQIA” label, raising fresh questions about how the venue tracked guests and assessed them before they arrived.

According to a Wired investigation, the database included 39,539 entries covering names from business, technology, media, politics and sports. Many entries had no label at all, but 93 celebrity records were marked “LGBTQIA,” the report said.

The database was first reported by 404 Media and later examined in more detail by Wired, which said it found labels tied both to identity and to a risk assessment system. That scale reportedly ranged from “flag,” meaning low risk, to “low risk,” “medium risk” and “high risk.”

Among the names Wired reported as “low risk” were Edie Falco, Tracy Morgan and Ben Stiller. The report said rappers Jadakiss and Fat Joe were labeled “medium risk,” while Lil Jon and Da Baby were described as “high risk.” It also said the rating system often reflected whether a person had previously been publicly critical of venue owner and New York Knicks executive chairman James Dolan.

Wired reported that even Fat Joe, a Knicks superfan who is a fan of Dolan, was labeled “medium” risk because of his association with Jadakiss, who had criticized Dolan in 2020.

The outlet said MSG did not respond to its request for comment.

Wired said the “LGBTQIA” label appeared on celebrity entries including Ricky Martin, Phoebe Bridgers and Emily Green, the Geese guitarist who is transgender. The report also said Ice Spice, identified as bisexual and among the attendees of Taylor Swift’s MSG wedding, was listed as “low risk.”

Digital rights advocate Evan Greer, director of Fight for the Future, told Wired, “They just seem overly interested in queer and trans people in their venue.”

Greer’s remarks followed an earlier report that MSG security, under Dolan’s leadership, allegedly tracked a trans Knicks fan’s movements throughout the venue in detail and compiled an 18-page dossier on her. That document reportedly logged when she scanned her ticket, used the elevator, hugged an usher, ordered drinks and entered the women’s bathroom, as well as when she left two minutes and five seconds later.