Knicks · NY POST: Knicks Fan Claims Defamation Led To Firing (page 1)

This is very disturbing. It wasn't enough to toss the guy from the game. MSG operatives sending emails to this guy's job to get him fired is really twisted.

Dolan and his culture of fear is truly wicked.

http://theknicksblog.com/knicks/knicks-f...

Knicks fan claims defamation led to firing
March 25th, 2015 9:19 am

Knicks fan Anthony Rotondi was fired from his job as a trader as a result of screaming “You stink!” at Carmelo Anthony, he says (ESPN, March 24).

According to a court filing Monday, the fan alleges that Madison Square Garden’s defamation of his name directly resulted in his termination from his job as a trader it ING.

The lawsuit stated that MSG vice president Courtney Jeffries told another ING employee that Rotondi was disorderly, interfered with the game and refused to leave after he was ejected during the Jan. 7, 2014 game against the Pistons.

“The amended complaint contains dramatic new details including a bombshell email from MSG to ING,” Rotondi’s lawyer said in a statement. “It clearly shows the lengths MSG went to intimidate ING that directly led to Anthony’s termination. This is MSG overreaching at its most invidious way, directly resulting in personal and professional damage to Anthony.”

Rotondi, who filed the lawsuit in September, was using ING’s four courtside seats with a colleague and two clients. The new filing says that his 14 1/2 months without pay has resulted in the loss of $307,386 and potentially his livelihood as he has been unable to find a job since.

Ridiculous

Pay him off by letting him be the Knicks' representative at the draft lottery selection process.

So we lay judgement based on this blog?

I recall there were witness to say the guy thrown out because he was disturbing others around him.
He was drinking and was acting the fool.
IN my world you take clients out and act like that you get fired. I want to see the E-mail, not take the lawyers word for it.

Ever been to a Jet game? Its been a while but its no place to take a kid in some sections. Parents and patrons have the right to enjoy the game without loud mouth jerks spewing nonsense and ignoring requests.

If your company gives you tickets and you take clients your on company time.

He might've deserved to be kicked out but to strong arm his employer ING(msg client) into firing him seems a bit much. But classic MSG

I can see emailing ING to request that they never send him to the game with the tickets ING was afforded but to strong arm ING into having him removed? Which seems to be the case of why else would be be fired?

gunsnewing wrote:I can see emailing ING to request that they never send him to the game with the tickets ING was afforded but to strong arm ING into having him removed? Which seems to be the case of why else would be be fired?

where did you see that?

Nalod wrote:So we lay judgement based on this blog?

I recall there were witness to say the guy thrown out because he was disturbing others around him.
He was drinking and was acting the fool.
IN my world you take clients out and act like that you get fired. I want to see the E-mail, not take the lawyers word for it.

Ever been to a Jet game? Its been a while but its no place to take a kid in some sections. Parents and patrons have the right to enjoy the game without loud mouth jerks spewing nonsense and ignoring requests.

If your company gives you tickets and you take clients your on company time.

MSG makes a chunk of its money selling alcohol at games. Sports + Alcohol = Sometimes raucous fans. Dolan likes to collect that beer money.

We have not seen the email. All we know is they sent one. The content could be vanilla, but it takes very little guesswork to understand that sending that email would jeopardize his job.

When an MSG exec sent that email, they were not only dictating to a box seat holder how their guests should behave, they were also getting even with this guy who defamed their Melo. He crossed their line and MSG retaliated in a manner they knew could cost him his job.

What's worse? Being foolish for one night and maybe embarrassing yourself or taking an action that may cost him his career. For all we know, the guy is a complete tool and he had issues at work and this was the final straw.

So the email had its intended effect of keeping MSG clients in line. MSG doesn't care about this guy and if he lost his job as a result they won't lose any sleep over it.

Splat wrote:

Nalod wrote:So we lay judgement based on this blog?

I recall there were witness to say the guy thrown out because he was disturbing others around him.
He was drinking and was acting the fool.
IN my world you take clients out and act like that you get fired. I want to see the E-mail, not take the lawyers word for it.

Ever been to a Jet game? Its been a while but its no place to take a kid in some sections. Parents and patrons have the right to enjoy the game without loud mouth jerks spewing nonsense and ignoring requests.

If your company gives you tickets and you take clients your on company time.

MSG makes a chunk of its money selling alcohol at games. Sports + Alcohol = Sometimes raucous fans. Dolan likes to collect that beer money.

We have not seen the email. All we know is they sent one. The content could be vanilla, but it takes very little guesswork to understand that sending that email would jeopardize his job.

When an MSG exec sent that email, they were not only dictating to a box seat holder how their guests should behave, they were also getting even with this guy who defamed their Melo. He crossed their line and MSG retaliated in a manner they knew could cost him his job.

What's worse? Being foolish for one night and maybe embarrassing yourself or taking an action that may cost him his career. For all we know, the guy is a complete tool and he had issues at work and this was the final straw.

So the email had its intended effect of keeping MSG clients in line. MSG doesn't care about this guy and if he lost his job as a result they won't lose any sleep over it.

What if the email was sent at the request of ING?

martin wrote:

Splat wrote:

Nalod wrote:So we lay judgement based on this blog?

I recall there were witness to say the guy thrown out because he was disturbing others around him.
He was drinking and was acting the fool.
IN my world you take clients out and act like that you get fired. I want to see the E-mail, not take the lawyers word for it.

Ever been to a Jet game? Its been a while but its no place to take a kid in some sections. Parents and patrons have the right to enjoy the game without loud mouth jerks spewing nonsense and ignoring requests.

If your company gives you tickets and you take clients your on company time.

MSG makes a chunk of its money selling alcohol at games. Sports + Alcohol = Sometimes raucous fans. Dolan likes to collect that beer money.

We have not seen the email. All we know is they sent one. The content could be vanilla, but it takes very little guesswork to understand that sending that email would jeopardize his job.

When an MSG exec sent that email, they were not only dictating to a box seat holder how their guests should behave, they were also getting even with this guy who defamed their Melo. He crossed their line and MSG retaliated in a manner they knew could cost him his job.

What's worse? Being foolish for one night and maybe embarrassing yourself or taking an action that may cost him his career. For all we know, the guy is a complete tool and he had issues at work and this was the final straw.

So the email had its intended effect of keeping MSG clients in line. MSG doesn't care about this guy and if he lost his job as a result they won't lose any sleep over it.

What if the email was sent at the request of ING?

Do you mean what if they asked MSG to send it so they could have probable cause for firing him?

Who knows? The Garden is know for doing this kind of thing

Nalod wrote:So we lay judgement based on this blog?

I recall there were witness to say the guy thrown out because he was disturbing others around him.
He was drinking and was acting the fool.
IN my world you take clients out and act like that you get fired. I want to see the E-mail, not take the lawyers word for it.

Ever been to a Jet game? Its been a while but its no place to take a kid in some sections. Parents and patrons have the right to enjoy the game without loud mouth jerks spewing nonsense and ignoring requests.

If your company gives you tickets and you take clients your on company time.

+1. He was there on the company's doll and was therefore representing his company while there as a patron. Embarrass the company and/or jeopardize it's business relationship with another company and you run the risk of getting your ass fired. I'm not sure what the email contained but by all accounts, the guy was behaving like an idiot.

gunsnewing wrote:He might've deserved to be kicked out but to strong arm his employer ING(msg client) into firing him seems a bit much. But classic MSG

Howard Lorber, a Knicks season ticket holder for 20 years and chairman of Douglas Elliman Real Estate, said he was in his seat in the front row behind the basket on the night of the Detroit game and complained to security guards about a fan who was heckling Anthony from the seats above him.

“I understand heckling and all that,” Lorber said in a phone interview. “Up to a point it’s fine. But there are other people there. When a guy starts carrying on and starts cursing you reach a point where it’s not right.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2...

Nalod wrote:

gunsnewing wrote:He might've deserved to be kicked out but to strong arm his employer ING(msg client) into firing him seems a bit much. But classic MSG

Howard Lorber, a Knicks season ticket holder for 20 years and chairman of Douglas Elliman Real Estate, said he was in his seat in the front row behind the basket on the night of the Detroit game and complained to security guards about a fan who was heckling Anthony from the seats above him.

“I understand heckling and all that,” Lorber said in a phone interview. “Up to a point it’s fine. But there are other people there. When a guy starts carrying on and starts cursing you reach a point where it’s not right.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2...

In the history of sports, I've never heard of something like this. An unruly fan disrespecting the players? A drunk man spewing profanities? This guy made history. Sports will never be the same again.

Splat wrote:

Nalod wrote:

gunsnewing wrote:He might've deserved to be kicked out but to strong arm his employer ING(msg client) into firing him seems a bit much. But classic MSG

Howard Lorber, a Knicks season ticket holder for 20 years and chairman of Douglas Elliman Real Estate, said he was in his seat in the front row behind the basket on the night of the Detroit game and complained to security guards about a fan who was heckling Anthony from the seats above him.

“I understand heckling and all that,” Lorber said in a phone interview. “Up to a point it’s fine. But there are other people there. When a guy starts carrying on and starts cursing you reach a point where it’s not right.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2...

In the history of sports, I've never heard of something like this. An unruly fan disrespecting the players? A drunk man spewing profanities? This guy made history. Sports will never be the same again.

Rotondi, who had worked for ING for 12 years, was at the game with his supervisor, Joann Moran, and two clients at the time of the incident.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-...
Seems like if you mess up and your supervisor is there and you get fired that it would be a move by your company and not a strong arm move by MSG no?

CrushAlot wrote:

Splat wrote:

Nalod wrote:

gunsnewing wrote:He might've deserved to be kicked out but to strong arm his employer ING(msg client) into firing him seems a bit much. But classic MSG

Howard Lorber, a Knicks season ticket holder for 20 years and chairman of Douglas Elliman Real Estate, said he was in his seat in the front row behind the basket on the night of the Detroit game and complained to security guards about a fan who was heckling Anthony from the seats above him.

“I understand heckling and all that,” Lorber said in a phone interview. “Up to a point it’s fine. But there are other people there. When a guy starts carrying on and starts cursing you reach a point where it’s not right.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2...

In the history of sports, I've never heard of something like this. An unruly fan disrespecting the players? A drunk man spewing profanities? This guy made history. Sports will never be the same again.

Rotondi, who had worked for ING for 12 years, was at the game with his supervisor, Joann Moran, and two clients at the time of the incident.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-...
Seems like if you mess up and your supervisor is there and you get fired that it would be a move by your company and not a strong arm move by MSG no?

Yeah, that could get you fired without any help from MSG. I don't think anybody will say he exercised good judgment. I just found it funny that somehow a fan misbehaving is soooooo wacky. However, I wouldn't recommend mooning anyone when your boss is around. But the world has changed. I had a supervisor try to get me into bed at one office party. These days that gets you denounced as a demon. I just asked her to back off and she never said another thing about it. These days, one drunken night at a game and you're unemployable.

I still would like to see that email now. I'm curious.

Did ING ask MSG for a recap of what happened? Is that the "smoking gun"?

One would have to assume this was a little more than a few cuss words and he can canned for one incident. This news story also has a nice slant to depict him as innocent and the big bad corp. machine chewed him up and fired him.

I thought that if ING was warned it cannot happen again or they would lose their seats. Obviously its easy to just forbid him to ever use the seats again. I doubt they'd just fire him because they value their seats more than his career. But its obvious he had problems and its obvious he valued his drinking and ranting more than his career as well.

Lets put it this way, the guy went to the game and made the papers the next day. Thats not just a little heckling is it?

All of this is well and good, but please, always remember, any idiot's actions have to be the result of the evil Emperor Jimmie and his culture of fear!

Holeee shit! Really?

A fucking tool gets fired for acting like a douchebag in front of his manager, and plays the deranged facepainter from the nosebleeds so bad he gets objective others to comment on it. He gets his stupid azz canned and of course, it's MSG's fault for selling alcohol at games. More telling is he gets some off-work ambulance chaser to spread this dopey lawsuit in the papers for him. Will be really interested to see how this pans out. If he wins, hooray! The MSG death star of fear takes a hit! If the suit gets thrown out, see? -- it's the power of the corporate trolls beating down the poor drunken common man!

Drink responsibly. Heckle responsibly. Especially in corporate box seats.

I forget where I originally read this story but it read much differently. 'You stink' was not at all what was said, and let be honest, the guy isn't in 3rd grade, so who are they even trying to kid by claiming that was what was said. If he has corporate seats, had clients with him, and acted in a way to misrepresent the company and msg partner, then being fired isn't out of the ordinary at all.

I don't think that he has to have clients with him...It's understood that if you are an employee of an organization and you are using corporate seats then you are representing that organization..That is why it is not encouraged to give away corporate seats to clients without an employee being present...Everyone who takes clients out know they risk their jobs if they misbehave using corporate tickets at sporting events.

jrodmc wrote:All of this is well and good, but please, always remember, any idiot's actions have to be the result of the evil Emperor Jimmie and his culture of fear!

Holeee shit! Really?

A fucking tool gets fired for acting like a douchebag in front of his manager, and plays the deranged facepainter from the nosebleeds so bad he gets objective others to comment on it. He gets his stupid azz canned and of course, it's MSG's fault for selling alcohol at games. More telling is he gets some off-work ambulance chaser to spread this dopey lawsuit in the papers for him. Will be really interested to see how this pans out. If he wins, hooray! The MSG death star of fear takes a hit! If the suit gets thrown out, see? -- it's the power of the corporate trolls beating down the poor drunken common man!

Drink responsibly. Heckle responsibly. Especially in corporate box seats.

Good take. I can imagine the Lawyer wanted to settle out of court and held up that they'd smear MSG in the papers as leverage. One thing Jimmy don't care about is how they look. Dude took Anucha to jury and had to pay her 11mil plus legal costs for them and her!!! Maybe today Corp. "partners" might hold MSG a bit more accountable for sexual harassment and logically picking Isiah over common decency is not a good idea. Perhaps Isiah if contract was not extended and had to go into litigation would blast MSG structure doing more damage? I want this book written!!!!!

No doubt MSG is a strange corperate environment but I don't see how MSG can even recommend to ING they fire that clown. I can see ING asking for full account of what happend and an internal security report. The accuracy of that report is what Rotundi's Lawyer will want to question. Maybe MSG can get a few ticket holders to sign a statement to what Rotundi's language and actions were and if so they won't have a leg to stand on.

Note to those who aspire to climb the ladder and drink:

1. watch your booze intake. You'll be judged by what you drink and how much you down.
2. If you mix painkillers and booze, just remember one thing: Uber. Press the button and leave right away. Don't think cuz you can't anymore. Your career, Marriage, drivers license, parental custody and self respect is at that moment in jepordy. Just excuse yourself as not feeling well and say your having an allergicreaction to a prescription or coming down with a bug. The reality is your allergic to handcuffs, supenas and STD's. Someone is reaching for their cell phone to document you so you have a choice, become a joke or hit the Uber App!!
3. No matter what have sex with anyone in the room. If you had not had sex with this person before, don't think drinking will make it happen. IN fact don't comment about anyone's body in the room.
4. Remember social events with booze is not a party. Grow up. Its a social event. Have a drink. Then drink water.
5. Don't drink beer from a bottle. You look like an idiot. If they don't have the right kind of glass cuz its not 12 oz. then keep refilling it but don't stand there with a bottle like your at a cookout. Women look 10x worse with a beer bottle. IF nervous or tense you'll do something to the bottle that will not reflect well on you. Beer bottles are shaped to invoke phallic connection and even subliminal you look like your stroking it. Guys are animals and see this as a sign. Your boss will either get aroused or disgusted. If your boss is a women there is no postitive image you can portray. If she is a lesbian she will be disgusted. If she is morally erect, she will be disgusted. If she is turned on by it then you better be ready to back it up.
6. Weed is legal in some places. But don't. Smoke a fatty on the way home and just chill. Its shows a lack of discipline. Sure its less damaging and does not provoke violence like booze but there is a stigma to it.

If the above offends you and you reject it cuz you "want to keep it real", then just enjoy yourself and don't worry about what others think of you. Every company is different and culture's vary. Everybody makes mistakes and if demonstrate lack of judgement it will be held against you at some time.

If you work in the entertainment business on the creative side then the above is not applicable. When creative mingles with finance, sales and Legal its a double standard.

Don't get hurt.