Hank Azaria has said he was “bothered” by Taylor Swift getting courtside seats at a recent NBA Finals game.
The singer was seen attending game four last week, which saw the Knicks triumph against the San Antonio Spurs in one of the biggest comebacks in NBA Final history. The team would go on to win the NBA Championship in the following game, taking the title for the first time in 53 years.
Swift was seen courtside alongside Haim sisters Alana and Este, and actress Mariska Hargitay, the friends wearing custom-made t-shirts celebrating the Knicks.
However, one person who wasn’t a fan of Swift’s courtside placement was The Simpsons voice actor Azaria, who was in attendance higher up and spoke about celebrities at NBA games.
“I’ll tell you the one that bothered me was Taylor Swift,” he said on The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz. “I know she’s the hugest thing in the world, but we had to sit with her all through the NFL and now she’s at the Garden. Come on.”
“It’s not that I question why she’d get the seat. I’m just tired of the whole Taylor sports [thing],” Azaria added, calling it “ridiculous”.
The actor further explained the process of getting seats as a celebrity, sharing: “You don’t know from the Garden if you’re going to get in until that day. If you’re Ben Stiller or Tracy Morgan, you know. I think Spike [Lee] actually pays for his tickets. So they don’t let you know until day-of because there’s such high demand.”
Azaria said he was able to get in for game four after failing in the previous one, though was “way up in what they call the Cisco Suites, which are like the ceiling”, further revealing he was there alongside the likes of Questlove, Rainn Wilson and Jeremy Strong.
“Celebrities are scattered throughout the entire garden. You only see the A+ list down at the bottom. Everybody else is like stuck wherever.”
Last week was a busy week for Swift, who was also inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and in the process became the second-youngest inductee after Stevie Wonder.
The star was introduced by Steven Spielberg, and during her speech praised Sombr, quoted Yellowstone and emotionally thanked her family.
Swift has also released a new song for the Toy Story 5 soundtrack called ‘I Knew It, I Knew You’ after much speculation, and performed the track live at the premiere, where she also duetted ‘You’ve Got A Friend In Me’ with Randy Newman.