Neither the New York Knicks nor Rangers radio rights rest with WFAN, and there’s an apparent reason for that. According to WFAN morning host Gregg Giannotti, James Dolan — owner of both franchises — hates the radio station for comments made a few years ago.
A discussion about the facial recognition software used by Madison Square Garden to remove guests not welcomed by Dolan on Boomer & Gio brought up the revelation from Giannotti that criticism levied to Dolan by former midday host Maggie Gray is the reasoning behind Dolan’s hatred of WFAN.
“She called out James Dolan for his Harvey Weinstein song. That was just gross. It was so ridiculous,” Giannotti said. “It was all ‘I should have known my friend was pulling out his fish-looking penis and showing it to people’. That was basically his song, so Maggie’s like ‘This is ridiculous’, calls him out on it, and ever since then MSG and WFAN have had this horrible relationship. Because James Dolan hated Maggie for calling him out.”
Giannotti then wondered if Gray would be able to get into Madison Square Garden due to Dolan’s alleged hatred of her. She called into the show to say she actually entered the arena in September of 2021.
“I got invited to the Garden to the WWE SmackDown event,” said Gray, who now hosts the afternoon show on CBS Sports Radio with Andrew Perloff. “I know some people at WWE, they were having a party, and then I got to go to SmackDown. I didn’t buy a ticket or anything and had a mask on. It’s September of 2021, so everyone still had masks on.
“I walked through the metal detector, multiple detectors, they checked my bag, the whole thing. They saw the invitation I had. Then I go up to a party that was in one of the suite levels, took the mask off, mingled at the party for like an hour with people I knew, and took the mask off to watch the show…No one ever approached me. It was really shocking actually.”
After Gray’s call, co-host Boomer Esiason said he remembered the anger from Dolan, saying “I just remember thinking ‘You gotta be kidding me’.”
Giannotti then shared a story about how MSG would donate items for a charity auction put on by the station, but former WFAN Program Director Mark Chernoff was “ambushed” by MSG employees who “hammered” him for Gray’s comments.
“That James Dolan can hold a grudge,” Giannotti concluded.
