Let Me Needlessly Investigate This Emily Ratajkowski MSG Scandal

Ratajkowski & Irina Shayk left a nail-biter Knicks game in the final 2 minutes. She’s now being denied comped seats. Hold on, there are layers to this...

By Kylie Cheung | December 19, 2023 | 5:10pm

Celebrities

Let Me Needlessly Investigate This Emily Ratajkowski MSG Scandal

In November, I was home for Thanksgiving, sitting on my parents’ couch, eating Eggo waffles and an assortment of other junk food when I watched the New York Knicks clear a 21-point deficit to beat the Miami Heat in the last two minutes of a nail-biter game on November 24. “jalen brunson that’s crazy,” I tweeted at the time, after watching the Knicks point guard drop 24 to lead the team’s comeback in what’s widely regarded as their most exciting game of the season.

While I was watching from the living room of my childhood home, Emily Ratajkowski and Irina Shayk were watching the game, too—from courtside in Madison Square Garden. They were chatting, gabbing, drinking, taking selfies, and generally having a lovely girls’ night out that was featured on both MSG’s jumbotron and Shayk’s Instagram grid. Their courtside seats typically go for thousands (if you can get them at all) but are “comped” for VIPs like them. But, where I spent the last two minutes of the game furiously tweeting, Ratajkowski and Shayk abruptly left, reportedly irking Knicks fans and calling into question their ~loyalty~ to a team with one of the more, err, feral fandoms in the league.

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Now, nearly a month after Ratajkowski and Shayk’s premature exit from that game, Page Six reports that Ratajkowski is feeling the sting of her devastating transgression: The model and podcaster reportedly requested comped seats for an upcoming Rangers game at the Garden but has been denied, ostensibly as punishment for her Nov. 24 walkout. Per Page Six:

An MSG spokesperson told us on Monday when we reached out to ask about Ratajkowski’s alleged recent Rangers ticket request: “Emily was not offered comped tickets for the Rangers,” after leaving the Knicks game early. But, “she was offered, and is welcome, to buy great seats any time.” Sources stressed the star is still welcome to buy seats.

She is “still welcome to buy seats.” Oh, that is nasty.

Of course, the tabloid notes that “primo floor seats” are almost impossible to buy, typically only available to VIPs in the Garden’s good graces. “They left early! I mean, people notice when the two of them walk out together,” an insider told Page Six back when the game took place. “That was a big game against Miami.”

Now, here’s where it gets a bit dicey. While Ratajkowski’s reps didn’t respond to Page Six, a “source” did attempt to tell her side of the story: “Emily was unaware of any issue, given that she and Irina left the game early due to a childcare issue at home.” However, other sources, ostensibly at MSG, rebut this, pointing to photos posted on Shayk’s Instagram that show the two models posing in a section of MSG which are only accessible when exiting the venue. Yet, the other “source,” presumably from Ratajkowski’s camp, claims the photos in question were taken at halftime. Oh, the melodrama!!!

In the Instagram photos in question, Shayk and Ratajkowski pout for a courtside selfie, flaunt their matching boots (which I can only surmise cost more than my entire net worth) within inches of the on-court action, and pose next to a forklift that appears to be in the area of the venue that is ostensibly off-limits unless you’re exiting. Interesting…

Here’s what I’ll say: I’m not a huge fan of policing whether women are Real Sports Fans and I don’t love the idea of two women being mocked and humiliated for exiting a game two minutes early (however magical those two minutes were!). I’m also not here to contest the veracity of anyone’s childcare emergencies! Yet… on the other hand, this is all very funny. And, to be perfectly clear, a pair of gazillionaire models are not going to die from no longer receiving comped, courtside seats. If I’ve managed to live through every crushing play-off loss as a James Harden superfan, surely Ratajkowski will live through no longer sitting close enough to the action to taste Jalen Brunson’s sweat.

And, hey, who knows—it could be worth rekindling things with ex-flings Pete Davidson and Eric Andre, with whom she’s sat courtside on previous dates for the opportunity to sit courtside again. Heck, I would do a lot more for a lot less…