MSG sues WIRED for defamation over LGBTQ list article

Madison Square Garden Entertainment has filed a defamation lawsuit against WIRED magazine, alleging a recent article falsely portrayed the company as surveilling and discriminating against LGBTQ celebrities. The lawsuit was filed on July 16 in a New York state court.

The legal action centers on a WIRED article published on July 9, headlined "Madison Square Garden Kept a List of Gay Celebrities." The report was based on data allegedly stolen from MSG by a hacker group and subsequently leaked. It described an internal database containing information on thousands of high-profile individuals, including celebrities, politicians, and business leaders. The article stated the database assigned risk scores to individuals and cataloged personal details, including sexual orientation, with roughly 100 entries tagged as "LGBTQIA."

In its complaint, MSG strongly disputes the narrative presented. The company acknowledges its customer relationship management system contained information relating to some celebrities' sexual orientations but asserts the purpose was inclusion, not exclusion. MSG states the data was used to identify LGBTQ public figures for invitations to community support events,...