Madison Square Garden is tracking your favorite artist’s race, gender, and sexuality
The iconic NYC arena is contributing to the surveillance state by cataloging its performers according to “risk” levels, which have been linked to their sexual preferences, gender identity, and racial identity.
Photos by Emma McIntyre, Frazer Harrison, & Kayla Oaddams/Getty Images
In April, Wired revealed that Madison Square Garden’s owner James Dolan was operating an extensive network of surveillance projects, many of which used face-scanning technology to identify what Dolan claimed were “potential security threats.” 404 Media revealed that three of those “threats” were activists who had publicly expressed disapproval of Dolan’s media empire. Yesterday, a follow-up article from Wired revealed, through analysis of a Garden hack undertaken by the collective ShinyHunters, that the venue is also keeping tabs on its performers—and that it is assigning risk levels ranging from “low” to “high” to them, often in accordance with those performers’ sexuality, gender identity, and race.
93 members of the Garden’s “talent” database—which comprises almost 40,000 names—including Geese’s Emily Green, Ricky Martin, and Phoebe Bridgers, were given the specific label of “LGBTQIA.” 400 members of the “talent” database got a risk score, too: artists like Ice Spice and Benson Boone were “low risk,” while Lily Allen and Morgan Wallen are “medium risk.” It doesn’t take a forensic analyst to identify the common thread between the Garden’s “high risk” talent: Freddie Gibbs, Lil Jon, DaBaby, and A Boogie Wit da Hoodie are among the more high-profile examples.
Why these particular artists have a risk score attached to them is unclear; the other 39,000 or so names in the database do not. Other artists who have been in public scuffles with Madison Square Garden or its affiliated brands have a “DO NOT HOST” label, including producer and DJ Pete Rock—who adores the Knicks but has criticized their owners publicly—and Lil TJay, who spat in the face of a Madison Square Garden security member during a boxing match in May. A spokesperson for the arena shared via email with Paste that “Wired’s reporting is inaccurate and false” and it will be “pursuing legal remedies.” But when asked to clarify which specific details of the Wired article were false, the spokesperson declined to respond.
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