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Madison Square Garden Entertainment has filed a lawsuit against <\/span>Wired <\/span><\/i>over an article it claims is defamatory, the company announced today. The <\/span>article<\/span><\/a>, published July 9, alleged that MSG had assigned public figures who had either attended or performed at Madison Square Garden as \u201clow,\u201d \u201cmedium,\u201d or \u201chigh\u201d risk, alongside a \u201cDO NOT HOST\u201d category. Several artists who are queer or have strong queer fanbases were also labeled \u201cLGBTQIA,\u201d the article reported.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Wired<\/span><\/i> contributing editor Noah Schachtman, reporter Maddy Varner, and Global Editorial Director Katie Drummond have been named as defendants in the lawsuit, which claims the article was \u201cunethical and inflammatory.\u201d The complaint further alleges that \u201cWired and Noah Schachtman reported false and purposely misleading \u201cfacts\u201d to fit a desired agenda<\/span>\u2014<\/span>they took information from a CRM [Customer Relationship Management] platform and manipulated it into a false story of LGBTQIA surveillance, risk, and discrimination.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The complaint also alleges that the data in question, which it says was obtained by hacktivists, was acquired unethically and cherry-picked to paint MSG in a negative light. \u201c<\/span>Wired<\/span><\/i> knew there was no nefarious \u2018list\u2019 of gay celebrities<\/span>\u2014<\/span>the \u2018list\u2019 they refer to was created by <\/span>Wired<\/span><\/i> from their own manipulation of the stolen data,\u201d the complaint continued. An accompanying statement from MSG highlighted the company\u2019s outreach to LGBTQIA communities, including Pride events and ticket vouchers for queer organizations.<\/span><\/p>\n