Now You Know Charles Oakley Will Kick Yo Ass
09 Feb, 2017
Former Knicks star Charles Oakley was removed from his courtside seat at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday and arrested during a game between New York and the Los Angeles Clippers.
The burly ex-forward had reportedly gotten into a verbal altercation with Knicks owner James Dolan before engaging physically with members of the arena’s security staff.
Shortly after the altercation, which occurred in the first quarter of a contest nationally televised on ESPN, the Knicks issued this statement: “Charles Oakley came to the game tonight and behaved in a highly inappropriate and completely abusive manner. He has been ejected and is currently being arrested by the New York City Police Department.
“He was a great Knick and we hope he gets some help soon.”
Sports writers on the scene reported that Oakley said, “Dolan did this,” among other shouted comments about the owner after being led away by security. Knicks president Phil Jackson attempted to calm down the 53-year-old down, who was yelling, “This is bullish–,” and, “F— that, let me go.” Oakley was charged with three counts of assault, according to multiple reports citing the NYPD.
“I didn’t say anything to [Dolan],” Oakley told the New York Daily News, after being released from a Manhattan police station late Wednesday evening. “I swear on my mother. They came over and wanted to know why I was sitting there. I bought the ticket. I said why do you guys keep staring at me. Then they asked me to leave. And I said I’m not leaving.”
Oakley, who played for the Knicks from 1988 to 1998 and was selected for the 1994 All-Star Game, became a fan favorite at the Garden while developing a reputation as one of the NBA’s toughest players. However, he has been in something of an exile from the organization, an awkward situation Oakley has blamed on Dolan.
“The boss don’t like me,” Oakley told the New York Times in October. He went on to say of Dolan, “I mean, I had at least 15 people try to set up a meeting. He won’t meet. I want to sit down to talk to him. I want me and him in a room. And lock the door. Lock that door!”
Oakley added, “I mean, he can have the police outside the door.”
“As hard as I played for that motherf—–, and he don’t want to talk with me?” Oakley exclaimed about Dolan in 2015 (via the New York Daily News). “Everybody in New York liked me except this one guy. . . . He’s a bad guy.”
Washington Post
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