08/08/2026
NEW YORK CITY - Fan or Foe? Dancing Larry Named in MSG Staff Lawsuit
Madison Square Garden and the New York Rangers face a workplace discrimination lawsuit that now directly implicates their longtime superfan Larry Goodman, better known to generations of Rangers faithful as Dancing Larry. The question many ask is simple. How does a season ticket holder who is not an employee end up at the center of claims involving sexual harassment, a hostile work environment, and retaliation?
The answer sits in the third period of nearly every Rangers home game. For three decades, Goodman has risen from his seat, gyrating energetically to Strike It Up by Black Box while the jumbotron locks onto him. MSG’s Blue Crew, the paid hype team of entertainers who toss shirts, work the stands, and energize the crowd, is assigned to flank him as part of their official duties. Those interactions are not optional fan encounters. They are scheduled job requirements.
Former Blue Crew member Miranda Tyson, who uses they/them pronouns and is the daughter of astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, filed the original suit in New York County Supreme Court in early April 2026 against MSG Sports, the Rangers, and senior event producer Mike Sarnoski. Tyson worked the Blue Crew from September 2021 until August 2025. The complaint alleges that non-male Blue Crew members endured a pattern of persistent and unwelcome physical contact from Goodman before and after the dance segment. Specific claims include firmly touching and grabbing heads, necks, shoulders, backs, arms, and hands, attempts to interlace fingers during high fives, and reports from colleagues of even more invasive acts including spitting into mouths.
Tyson first formally reported the conduct in a March 2024 email to a supervisor, describing it as an open secret discussed after every game and calling it textbook sexual harassment from one of the arena’s most recognizable personalities. Management temporarily pulled Goodman from the segment and conducted an HR inquiry.
He returned.
In late February 2025, Tyson reported another incident in which Goodman placed his full palm on the small of their back. After that complaint, Tyson was removed from all future Dancing Larry assignments. In August 2025, they received notice they would not be rehired for the new season, a decision the suit calls pure retaliation despite years of positive reviews and leadership roles during Knicks playoff events.
Goodman was never an MSG employee. He is a New Jersey resident and longtime season ticket holder who began the routine in 1996. Yet the organization chose to feature him as a recurring performer and required its staff to work in close physical proximity with him. That decision, the lawsuit argues, turned private fan behavior into a workplace condition that management allegedly failed to correct even after formal complaints.
On August 5, 2026, Judge Phaedra F. Perry Bond approved an amended complaint that adds Larry Goodman himself as a defendant. The filing states that Goodman continued the alleged conduct after being placed on notice that it was unwelcome and the subject of formal complaints. Existing defendants did not oppose the motion. MSG continues to decline comment on employee or legal matters.
The case remains allegations only. No findings of fact have been made. What is clear is the structural reality. When an arena elevates a fan into an official in-game entertainment role and assigns employees to perform alongside him, the boundary between spectator and workplace actor dissolves. That is how Dancing Larry, the supposed just a fan, became central to a discrimination lawsuit against Madison Square Garden.
