Testimony from tennis great John McEnroe is key as Madison Square Garden looks to dismiss Charles Oakley’s assault and battery lawsuit for a third time.
McEnroe, the seven-time Grand Slam singles champion who is a regular at Knicks games, was seated near Oakley when the Knicks hosted the Los Angeles Clippers on Feb. 8, 2017 at the Garden.
McEnroe remembers Oakley telling a security guard, “You’re a f—–g snitch” and “F— you, I ain’t leaving,” and resisting removal, per Michael McCann of Sportico.
MSG wants U.S. Circuit Judge Richard J. Sullivan to throw out the case for a third time. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has twice reinstated Oakley v. MSG.
Via Sportico:
McEnroe, 66, didn’t know that Oakley, whom McEnroe says he was “previously acquainted,” would be at the game. The former U.S. Davis Cup captain says he wasn’t paying attention to “what was going on behind us” and was instead “focused on watching” the Knicks and Clippers play. At some point, Oakley approached McEnroe from behind to say “hello.” McEnroe and Oakley then shook hands and Oakley met McEnroe’s son.
“He seemed okay to me in that very brief exchange,” McEnroe testified.
Then the situation changed.
McEnroe noticed an MSG security guard pass by him and his son. The guard approached Dolan, knelt next to him and said “something” but McEnroe couldn’t make out what was said. As the guard walked away from Dolan and past McEnroe, McEnroe heard Oakley yell, “You’re a f—–g snitch,” which McEnroe believes was directed at the guard.
McEnroe then saw security guards approach Oakley and ask him to leave, which allegedly led Oakley to say “F— you, I ain’t leaving.” McEnroe says the hostility escalated, and he saw Oakley, who is 6-foot-9 and weighed 245 pounds when he played, “slip and fall to the floor.” When Oakley stood up, McEnroe recalled how Oakley “physically resisted the efforts of the MSC security guards to escort him out of the arena.”
The New York Post recently reported that Oakley would be welcomed back into the Knicks family if he dropped the lawsuit.
In an interview with former NBA player Jim Jackson, Oakley was asked what it would take to get him to make peace with ownership and return to the Garden. Oakley largely blamed former teammate Patrick Ewing for him not being welcomed back.
“Even though all them guys [are] going back, I really can’t blame all them guys, because I didn’t really play with all of them,” Oakley said. “The ones I played with who got some power, I thought would be Patrick, but he didn’t step up. So I hold him more responsible than anybody else, because he’s supposed to be our franchise players. I played with him for 10 years...He haven’t spoke up yet, so I’m gonna let it just play out. I would love to be there. I know the fans would love me to be there. I love the fans. They gave me a lot of cheer over the years, but it all started from the Commission[er Adam Silver], the owner and all other owners in the NBA, because he making it bad for all the teams in the league for something like this to be going on for eight years.”
Patrick Ewing Jr. then said on social media: “The garden misses Oak I’ll leave it at that.”
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Adam Zagoria is a freelance reporter and Basketball Insider for NJ Advance Media. You may follow him on Twitter @AdamZagoriaand check out his Website atZAGSBLOG.com.