James Dolan’s fiery interview defending facial recognition at MSG

To James Dolan, revenge is a dish best served cold!

The billionaire Madison Square Garden CEO gave a fiery interview Thursday defending his use of facial recognition technology and invoking “The Godfather” — while threatening to retaliate against critics who’ve allegedly come after him for the move.

“People say, ‘You’re so sensitive, you shouldn’t defend yourself.’ It’s like something out of ‘The Godfather’ — like, ‘It’s only business,’” Dolan fumed to FOX 5. “[But] the Garden has to defend itself.”

Dolan had just been asked about the State Liquor Authority’s alleged threat to halt liquor sales at his venues, when he revealed that he planned to try to turn the tables on the agency and its boss. 

He said he wants to “pick a night and shut down liquor in the building” — while hanging signs that say, “If you would like to drink at a game, call [SLA chief Sharif Kabir].”

Dolan’s combative comments came as he doubled down on his policy to use facial recognition technology to remove all lawyers involved in lawsuits against MSG Entertainment from its venues.

The policy has sparked more lawsuits along with legislation put forward by Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Brad Hoylman-Sigal that would block him from using the tech to boot lawyers.

Asked about the controversy by FOX 5, Dolan began bizarrely ranting against bail reform.

He slammed Hoylman-Sigal and other politicians for being media-hungry and “jumping on the bandwagon” against him instead of addressing New York’s real problems.

“Politicians are just jumping on the bandwagon. They like the press. Where are they, for instance, on bail reform?” he said.

“The criminals who attacked your weather person, for instance, went to a police station and got released,” he said, referencing the brutal beating of Fox meteorologist Adam Klotz on a subway train this week.

“Why aren’t [they] doing something about that and the quality of life in New York,” he said.

Asked if he planned to keep the controversial policy despite catching heat, he said yes.

“If you sue us, we’re gonna tell you not to come and if you’re grandstanding and threatening our liquor license, I’m gonna tell you, you know what, take away our liquor license,” he said. “People are still gonna come to the games.”

Earlier in the interview, the pugilistic fat cat used a culinary analogy to drive home his point.

“If you owned a bakery or a restaurant and someone comes in and buys bread and the next day they serve you a lawsuit, they say they hated it. Then the next day they say, ‘I’d like to buy more bread.’ Would you sell them more bread?” he said.

“If you’re being sued, it’s a personal thing,” he added.