Phish Fan Who Took Bong Hit In The Sphere Permanently Banned From MSG Venues
On 4/20, the Phish phan account @acid_farts posted phootage of a phriendly humanoid ripping a bong within the Sphere, Madison Square Garden billionaire James Dolan’s new hi-tech Las Vegas entertainment venue. Caption: “First bong hit to ever be ripped in the @spherevegas @phish Somebody call @guinessworldrecords 4/20/24.” Here, see it for yourself:
The MSG company has a long relationship with Phish, who’ve played a number of New Year’s Eve gigs at the historic NYC arena among other performances over the years. I’m not sure what they thought would happen when they threw a Phish concert on 4/20, but they were not pleased about this video circulating the interwebs. A separate phan account on Twitter/X, @PhishatMSG, has acquired a letter, dated for this past Monday, June 3, informing the bong-ripper — who, the letter implies, is the owner of the @acid_farts account — that he is banned from all MSG venues going forward. The letter is signed by Christopher Schimpf, the company’s Senior Vice President & Associate General Counsel. Here’s what it says:
On April 20, 2024, you posted an Instagram video of yourself smoking inside the Sphere with the caption “First bong hit to ever be ripped in the @spherevegas @phish”. You knowingly violated the guest code of conduct by visibly smoking inside the venue. Sphere Entertainment Co. will not tolerate actions that threaten the safety and security of our guests, and employees.
In light of your conduct, you are hereby indefinitely banned from Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, The Beacon Theatre, The Chicago Theatre, Sphere and any other MSG Venue (the “MSG Venues”). You are not to enter into or remain in any of the MSG Venues at any time in the future. If you enter any of the MSG Venues, including, with respect to Madison Square Garden, the box office, Chase Square and the concierge areas, law enforcement will be contacted to ensure your expulsion and you will be subject to the penalties.
We know MSG likes to use facial recognition software, so there unfortunately might be some teeth behind this threat. Our man went down a legend, at least. Maybe Drew Carey can step in on his behalf?
