[cortesoft]

In the US, a business can refuse service to anyone, generally, as long as it isn’t because the person belongs to a protected class (e.g. you can’t ban all black people or all Jewish people). You could refuse to do business with someone because you didn’t like the way they looked at you, or because you were grumpy the day they came in.

Famously, for example, James Dolan bans all sorts of people he doesn’t like from Madison Square Garden and any of the other venues he owns. He notoriously bans all lawyers who work for any firm that sues him (which happens a lot). He even uses facial recognition to catch them, and kicks them out without refunding their tickets. People have tried to sue him for this (many of them are lawyers, after all!) and so far no one has won against him for it, so he keeps doing it.

Here is an article about it: https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/45949758/new-york-knicks...

[lesuorac]

IIUC, that article is written in 2025 and cites stuff pre-2023.

IN 2023 the city threatened them with violating the terms of their liquor license [1] (which doesn't prevent you from refusing service to anybody short of actually illegal behavior). I can't really find any follow-up about this.

[1]: https://nypost.com/2023/12/06/business/msg-could-lose-its-li...

[renewiltord]

Doesn't prevent you from refusing short of illegal. Incredible sequence of negatives there.

[lesuorac]

The doesn't doesn't belong.

[Tangurena2]

> a business can refuse service to anyone

In Colorado, such service refusals are illegal. The civil rights agency prosecutes them and their legal rationale is that historically every "we reserve the right to refuse service to anyone" has only been used to discriminate against non-white customers.

> Rule 20.4 – Discriminatory Signage in Places of Public Accommodation.

> No person shall post or permit to be posted in any place of public accommodation any sign that states or implies the following:

> “WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO REFUSE SERVICE TO ANYONE.”

> Such signage implies that management may rely upon unlawful discriminatory factors in determining access to a place of public accommodation and thus is prohibited.

https://www.sos.state.co.us/CCR/GenerateRulePdf.do?ruleVersi...

[hollerith]

Just because it is unlawful to display certain signs does not mean that refusing service to customers is unlawful.

[trogdor]

Interesting. I’m surprised about that rule. To me, it seems like a first amendment violation.

[biztos]

Not my world, but I respect this. Imagine how fun it would be to own, say, Disneyland and keep AI-enforced ban lists for your every whim.

Glasshole 2.0? No Mickey for Meta!

[mac-attack]

Good to see Dolan is not the only one corruptible by power