James Dolan owns two of North America’s most valued professional sports franchises: the NBA’s New York Knicks and the NHL’s New York Rangers, both of which play their home games at famed Madison Square Garden.
On Tuesday, a Tennessee woman sued Dolan, alleging that he initiated unwelcome sexual contact with her and trafficked her. The case also implicated disgraced and imprisoned director Harvey Weinstein, as well as The Azoff Company.
The woman claimed she was hired as a massage therapist for a rock-and-roll concert tour that included the Eagles and Dolan’s band, JD & the Straight Shot.
“James Dolan manipulated me, brought me to California to abuse me, and then set me up for a vicious attack by Weinstein,” Kellye Croft said in a statement following her lawsuit.
Dolan, the CEO of Madison Square Garden Company and Sphere Entertainment, refuted the charges in a statement issued by his lawyers.
“There is absolutely no merit to any of the allegations against Mr. Dolan,” Dolan’s lawyer, E. Danya Perry, said in a statement. “Kellye Croft and James Dolan shared a friendship. The comments to Harvey Weinstein are clearly intended to inflame and appear to be plagiarised from previous cases against Mr. Weinstein. These claims are an act of retaliation by an attorney who has initiated numerous lawsuits against Mr. Dolan but has not won, and cannot obtain, a judgement against him.
“Mr. Dolan always believed Ms. Croft to be a good person and is surprised she would agree to these claims. Bottom line, this is not a he said/she said matter and there is compelling evidence to back up our position. We look forward to proving that in court.”
Dolan, 68, is the son of Cablevision founder Charles Dolan, and has been involved in the ownership of the New York Knicks and New York Rangers since the 1990s, first as a part-owner of the teams and then as executive chairman and CEO of The Madison Square Garden Company, a Cablevision spinoff.
Dolan worked for his father in various roles, including CEO of Cablevision, which sold to European telecom company Altice in 2016. He was also the CEO of Rainbow Media Holdings, a subsidiary of Cablevision now called AMC Networks of which Dolan is the chairman and his wife, Kristin, is the CEO. The two are separated, according to multiple reports. Dolan has six children, according to his bio in the Knicks media guide.
That depends on whom you ask. The Rangers have had success under Dolan: 2022 Eastern Conference finals appearance, 2014 Stanley Cup finalists and this season, the Rangers are in first place in the East.
Leave a Reply