FOLLOW US

A mom was barred from entering the Radio City Music Hall in Manhattan with her daughter’s Girl Scout Troop. She was flagged on the facial recognition software. And missed the Christmas Spectacular performance of the Rockettes.

The mom works as an associate at the personal injury law firm Davis, Saperstein, and Salomon which is involved in litigation against an affiliate of MSG Entertainment, which runs Radio City Music Hall. 

MSG Entertainment confirmed that Kelly Conlon was blacklisted by facial recognition technology. She is not personally involved in the court case. And not even licensed to practice law in New York state.

Conlon, a New Jersey attorney recently booted from the theater, said "I was just a mom taking my daughter to see a Christmas show," according to NBC New York. Security guards at the venue detained her after she went through metal detectors. And directed her to leave the theater.

She "waited outside" during the 90-minute show, attended by her daughter, the Girl Scout troop, and other mothers. 

"It was embarrassing. It was mortifying," Conlon claimed. "It was pretty simultaneous, I think, to me, going through the metal detector, that I heard over an intercom or loudspeaker. I heard them say 'woman with long dark hair and gray scarf.'"

Conlon added, "They knew my name before I told them. They knew the firm I was associated with before I told them. And they told me I was not allowed to be there."

Facial Recognition Software 

She was asked to provide identification and told that "our [facial] recognition picked you up." 

Signs inside the Music Hall alert customers that the venue uses "a variety of security measures; including Facial Recognition which uses Biometric Identifier Information."

The firm where Conlon works has an active case, against a restaurant affiliated with Madison Square Garden Entertainment (MSG), which owns Radio City Music Hall. 

MSG is owned by James Dolan and has a portfolio that includes well-known venues, like New York’s Madison Square Garden, Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, The Chicago Theatre, and The Beacon Theatre. The Tao restaurant and nightclub chain operates more than 70 branded locations in over 20 markets and is also part of the portfolio.

MSG Entertainment said that company policy dating back to June is to ban anyone whose firm is suing MSG from attending any event at any of its venues.

 "While we understand this policy is disappointing to some, we cannot ignore the fact that litigation creates an inherently adversarial environment," MSG Entertainment said. 

Under the policy, those attorneys are only allowed back at MSG Entertainment events once the legal cases have ended. 

Samuel Davis, from Davis, Saperstein, and Salomon, where Conlon works, was upset at MSG’s tactics.

"Separating a mother from her daughter and Girl Scouts that she was watching over and to do it under the pretext of protecting any disclosure of litigation information is absolutely absurd," Davis said.

"The fact that they're using facial recognition technology to do this is frightening. It's just un-American to do this."

MSG Entertainment justified its use of facial recognition technology in a statement: "We have always made it clear to our guests and to the public that we use facial recognition as one of our tools to provide a safe and secure environment and we will continue to use it to protect against the entry of individuals who we have prohibited from entering our venues." 

Burns & Harris and Davidoff Hutcher & Citron banned

Attorney Nicolette Landi went to see Mariah Carey’s “Merry Christmas To All Show” at Madison Square Garden last week. Her firm, Burns and Harris, represents a client who was allegedly injured on a staircase at the venue.

Landi was spotted by the Facial Recognition software and denied entry to the event.

According to a lawsuit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court Landi and all members of her law firm, received a Nov. 14 letter banning them from events at all of Dolan’s properties. The company sued MSG and Dolan on Dec. 17.

“By continuing to impose bans against adverse attorneys, despite this court’s recent order in the Hutcher matter, MSG makes clear that it intends to intimidate adverse litigants by any means necessary,” said Landi’s lawsuit.

“Nearly 60 lawyers at the commercial law and government relations firm of Davidoff Hutcher & Citron have been banned from Rangers and Knicks games” because their clients are suing MSG, according to court documents.

The Hutcher lawyers were blacklisted from events on September 7 after filing a lawsuit against MSG on behalf of ticket resellers.