A war of words has erupted between New York Knicks owner James Dolan and NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani over a canceled watch party outside Madison Square Garden. The party was initially planned for 1,000 ticketed fans but was scrapped due to President Donald Trump’s appearance.

Dispute Over Watch Party

Dolan decided to cancel the watch party, citing that ‘we’re about millions of people.’ He claimed that the mayor’s office and the commissioner’s office were trying to ‘kill’ the celebration. However, Mamdani took to social media to say that MSG had actually requested a permit for 500-999 fans and Dolan had decided to cancel the event.

A statement from MSG said that they declined to use the permit because it would only allow 1,000 people to attend, leaving tens of thousands of fans out. The City Reporter found that the permit application submitted by MSG had the option to apply for an ‘unknown’ amount of people.

The dispute comes as the Knicks are in the midst of their playoff run, with street closures in effect for game days. Dolan compared getting into MSG to getting into ‘Area 51,’ saying it would be easier to get into the restricted area than into the Garden for Wednesday’s game.

Original reporting: Fox News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.