Madison Square Garden chief of security fired in Charles Oakley fallout

As the fallout over the Charles Oakley dustup continues, the top security staffer at Madison Square Garden has been fired.

As an ugly week continues for the New York Knicks and owner James Dolan in the wake of franchise legend Charles Oakley being forcibly removed from Madison Square Garden, the top security executive for the arena has been fired. Murray Weiss of DNAinfo New York  reports that Frank Benedetto, the senior VP of security for the Madison Square Garden Company, was fired on Friday morning.

Oakley was involved in a shoving match with Garden security just a few rows behind Dolan’s seats. NBA stars past and present have come to Oakley’s defense following the incident, including LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. Even Charles Barkley, who has had his own feuds with Oakley over the years, came to the defense of his former rival on national television.

New York is currently out of the playoff picture and sits third in the Atlantic Division. For the Knicks, this is just another sad episode for a team that can’t get out of its own way. New York has not made the NBA Finals since 1999 and hasn’t won a title since the days of Willis Reed and Walt Frazier in 1973.

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The entire ordeal continues coming back to Dolan, who has run the Knicks and Madison Square Garden with a pettiness rarely seen in professional sports. It is unfortunate that someone had to pay for the owner’s childish feud with a franchise icon with their job, but that’s business.

The Knicks are at home on Friday night against the Denver Nuggets, and it’s a pretty safe assumption that Dolan will hear a steady chorus of boos and continued support for Oakley from the crowd.