Given that Woody Allen’s tenure as a Knicks season ticket holder predates Cablevision’s ownership of the team, you might think the Academy Award winner would receive at least as much hospitality at MSG as say, Richard Grieco or Aldo Nova. However, according to New York Post gossip monger Richard Johnson, Woody’s been told in no uncertain terms that he’s persona non grata at the World’s Most Dysfunctional Area’s Suite 200 VIP. Could James Dolan be amongst those still holding a grudge over Allen’s split with Mia Farrow? Is the Straight Shot guitarist fed up with “Interiors”? As you’ve probably already guessed, it’s something far more petty.
“He got a call from someone at MSG saying they had bought the rights to air several of Woody’s movies on the MSG channel and wanted Woody to go on the air and talk about his movies or introduce them,” a Woody source told me.
“Woody said he would not be comfortable doing that. He has never done that for any show or network. They then said that this was a ‘reciprocal arrangement’ and that if Woody couldn’t go on TV for them, he should not eat in their VIP restaurant anymore. Woody said fine and thanked them for the many years he had enjoyed the space there.”
A Garden spokesman politely declined to comment but pointed out that Allen — unlike Spike Lee (who has worked on documentaries about the team) and Matthew Modine — has never done anything to help the team or Dolan’s youth charity, Garden of Dreams (of which Modine is a board member).