NY Rangers fan favorite ‘Dancing Larry’ gets inappropriately handsy with arena staff, lawsuit says

A diehard New York Rangers fan known as “ Dancing Larry ,” a perennial home-game fixture famous for gyrating wildly on the Madison Square Garden jumbotron, may be a crowd favorite but is allegedly reviled by staffers who say he gets handsy with them during his act. In a workplace discrimination lawsuit filed Monday and obtained by The Independent , Miranda Tyson, a member of the team’s “ Blue Crew ” – a squad of entertainers who hype up the crowd during commercial breaks – claims Dancing Larry’s “insistence on touching us” has gone too far. Tyson’s complaint accuses Dancing Larry, a New Jersey resident whose real name is Larry Goodman, of “pervasive and severe” harassment, such as pawing at the Blue Crew’s heads, necks, arms, shoulders and backs, “even trying to lace his fingers with theirs during high fives.

” It says some reported “even more egregious conduct by Larry, including… spitting into people’s mouths. ” “Every time we return from ‘Dancing Larry,’ more than one person assigned to it laments an unwanted interaction,” Tyson wrote in an email to their supervisor, according to the complaint. Tyson emphasized in the message that they were not asking to be personally taken off the Dancing Larry segments, the complaint continues.

'Dancing Larry' Goodman is at the center of a harassment lawsuit filed by a member of the NY Rangers 'Blue Crew' (Getty Images) “That would not solve the problem – that would simply put another victim of persistent, unwelcome physical conduct that interferes with their ability to do their job in my place,” Tyson wrote. “I am saying that MSG has a responsibility to step in and address this textbook sexual harassment from one of its most recognizable personalities. " But, according to the complaint, a conversation between MSG’s HR department and Dancing Larry went nowhere, and he “once again subjected Mx.

Tyson to unwanted physical contact, placing his ‘full palm on the small of [their] back’ as they exited the performance area. ” When Tyson followed up with another report to higher-ups, their position on the Blue Crew was eliminated, the complaint contends. Attorney Bhavleen Sabharwal, who is representing Tyson, declined to comment on the case beyond what is in the complaint.