Charles Oakley Banned From Madison Square Garden Following Altercation

Former New York Knicks great Charles Oakley has been banned from Madison Square Garden following his Wednesday night altercation with arena security, for which he was arrested.

Appearing on The Michael Kay Show on WEPN in New York, Knicks owner James Dolan accused Oakley of abusive behavior at Wednesday night’s game.

“It’s very clear to us that Charles Oakley came to the Garden with an agenda, with a mission in mind,” Dolan said.

He added: “Anyone that comes to the Garden, too much alcohol[sic], is looking for a fight and being abusive is going to get banned.”

Oakley told WNYW that he did have drinks prior to the game, but none in Madison Square Garden. And overall, he disputes Dolan’s account of the events, saying that he’d only been in his seat for four minutes and hadn’t done anything to warrant ejection from the arena.

Though it was initially reported that Oakley was being banned for life, Dolan said that was not the case, but added that Oakley would not be allowed to return.

Earlier in the day, Madison Square Garden fired arena security chief Frank Benedetto. Dolan told WEPN that Benedetto’s firing was not totally attributable to his handling of the Oakley altercation, though he conceded, “this was probably the last straw.”

[image via screengrab]

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