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NEW YORK — Donald Trump was booed loudly by fans inside Madison Square Garden when he was shown on video screens during the national anthem prior to Game 3 of the NBA Finals on Monday night.

Trump was shown for several seconds giving a military salute. The boos ended when the U.S. flag followed him on the screens, and fans cheered when New York Knicks players were shown. Mentions of the San Antonio Spurs also elicited loud boos.

Trump is watching from Knicks owner James Dolan’s suite, along with granddaughter Kai, personal adviser Boris Epshteyn and Cabinet secretaries Lee Zeldin, Sean Duffy and Doug Burgum. He is the first sitting president to attend an NBA Finals game.

Trump’s Marine One helicopter flew from his home in New Jersey and landed near Wall Street before his motorcade made its way up through Manhattan and to the arena roughly an hour before tipoff. He encountered a handful of people making rude gestures, and outside the area, one group held signs saying “Trump must go.”

He settled into Dolan’s suite shortly afterward.

During the afternoon before Trump’s arrival, the New York Police Department and the U.S. Secret Service set up a large perimeter surrounding Madison Square Garden. Fans lined up to get inside the arena more than four hours before tip-off, in a scene more closely resembling New Year’s Eve in Times Square than the usual leadup to a basketball game.

They were required to provide a ticket or pass to get past various checkpoints, along with going through a Transportation Security Administration-style magnetometer. Secret Service personnel and police were positioned at every corner and in large numbers. Daily commuters, tourists and fans were all confounded at various times as they tried to maneuver the security.

New Yorkers forced to adjust

After traveling from his new home in Florida for the game, Knicks fan Greg Weldon said the main inconvenience he’s faced so far has been the lack of information.

“We’ve asked so many cops, Secret Service, guys with machine guns, what to do, where should we go,” he said. “Nobody knows.”

Knicks coach Mike Brown and Spurs counterpart Mitch Johnson downplayed any concept of being inconvenienced by the closures and enhanced security because of Trump.

“There’s a lot going on, and I’d much rather be a part of it than not,” Johnson said.

With security stepped up, a watch party outside was canceled, and ticket holders were not allowed to bring bags inside the Garden. Fans had gathered near the arena to watch games during this playoff run, during which the Knicks have won 13 games in a row to reach the Final for the first time since 1999 and move two victories from their first NBA title since 1973.

“We are looking forward to bringing back watch parties for Game 4,” Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a news conference Monday. “But I think New Yorkers are used to presidents coming to town, and they understand that that generally means lockdowns of areas and that’s what you’re going to see tonight at the Garden.”

Incidents heighten attention to Trump’s security

This is the latest major sporting event Trump has attended during his time as president, and the security measures have created major hassles for fans.

Thousands of fans missed the start of last year’s U.S. Open men’s singles final between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner because of lengthy security lines. Even though the U.S. Tennis Assn. pushed back the start of the match by a half hour, many fans still couldn’t get in because added measures meant that they had to go through screening not only when they arrived at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, but again in front of the steps into Arthur Ashe Stadium, where Trump watched from a suite.

Federal law enforcement officials have been reexamining Trump’s security in light of three incidents in the past two years: a shooting at a 2024 rally in Butler, Penn.; the discovery of a man armed with a rifle as Trump played golf in West Palm Beach, Fla., later that year; and the recent shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Assn. dinner.

Asked Sunday his thoughts on Trump attending, Knicks center Mitchell Robinson said: “Cool, I guess. We can still get out there and play [no matter] who’s here and who’s not.”

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and other dignitaries were also at the game.

It was already hard enough for Knicks fans to get inside Madison Square Garden because of astronomical ticket prices. The get-in price for a ticket is higher than the average cost of monthly rent in New York, surging over $5,000. The best seats are tens of thousands of dollars. Mamdani said he bought his ticket, which he said was standing room only, for about $1,000 directly from Madison Square Garden.

The difficulty of seeing the game in person has prompted fans to crowd bars, streets and watch parties all over the city. The watch party near the Garden has become a major event all through the playoffs, but with Trump attending, that event was moved a few blocks away outside the security perimeter, at Bryant Park.

“We improvise,” said Knicks guard Jose Alvarado, who is a New York native. “We’re New Yorkers. We’re going to find a way to watch a game, and that’s what we’re doing.”

Whyno and Price write for the Associated Press.

The first film by Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg to be shot partly in the U.S. is, perhaps not surprisingly, a freaky satire of Hollywood. Its take on fame has only grown more accurate in the years since its premiere in 2014. Julianne Moore, Mia Wasikowska and Robert Pattinson star in a demented tale of family, celebrity, ambition, ego and limousines. Funny and perverse, the film captures the uncanny cocktail of mean-spirited malignancy, self-obsessed delusion and just plain obliviousness that runs rampant around town. Presented by the screening series Mezzanine and the local literary magazine the Big One, the evening will be introduced by the film’s screenwriter, Bruce Wagner, a longtime chronicler of Los Angeles.

“Maps to the Stars” is playing June 14 at Brain Dead Studios. Tickets here.

Start sending out “Smoke Signals.” Phoebe Bridgers finally announced her upcoming phone-free arena tour, and it includes two spooky nights in the Los Angeles area.

Bridgers shared details about the Lost Tour on Friday morning, following a sold-out show the previous night at Madison Square Garden in New York City and a series of secret pop-up shows across the United States.

The tour will kick off in Indianapolis in September and cap off the North American run with back-to-back shows at Inglewood’s Intuit Dome on Oct. 30 and 31, fitting dates for the skeleton suit-wearing singer-songwriter. A European leg will follow in November.

All tickets for Bridgers’ surprise acoustic show at Madison Square Garden were sold for $20 or under, and proceeds were donated to the Community Justice Exchange’s Immigration Bond Freedom Fund, which provides bail support to ICE detainees. For the Lost Tour, Bridgers will donate $1 from every ticket sold for North American concerts to RAINN, the nation’s largest anti-sexual violence organization and operator of the National Sexual Assault Hotline.

A phone ban was also instituted at the MSG show and Bridgers’ previous pop-up sets, with attendees storing their devices in Yondr bags, which physically lock using magnets. The same policy will be in effect throughout the upcoming tour.

At the Intuit Dome, home of the Los Angeles Clippers, guests may not need their phones at all to access tickets or purchase concessions, since the arena is equipped with “GameFace ID” facial recognition technology.

The Lost Tour is Bridgers’ first full-band solo tour since Reunion Tour in support of her 2020 album “Punisher” wrapped in April 2023, though she has since toured as a member of the supergroup Boygenius. “Punisher” is her latest solo album, and her debut album with Boygenius, “The Record,” came out in 2023.

Though she debuted eight new songs at Thursday’s MSG show, she has yet to announce a new album.

Singer-songwriter Alex G will provide support on the tour’s North American leg, including the Inglewood dates, while former Black Country, New Road frontman Isaac Wood will support in Europe. The tour’s eerie imagery was created in collaboration with fine art photographer Gregory Crewdson.

In an effort to get tickets in the hands of fans, rather than scalpers or bots, there will be two days of presales before the general sale. Fans can register from now until midnight Sunday for lottery access to the Day 1 presale taking place Tuesday. There will be another presale Wednesday. Tickets go on sale to the general public June 12.

Bridgers last played in L.A. as part of a secret show at all-ages venue the Smell in February 2024, where Boygenius announced its hiatus.

In addition to touring, Bridgers has a role in the upcoming A24 feature “Primetime,” directed by Lance Oppenheim, which hits theaters in September.

Bridgers, who grew up in Pasadena and attended the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, told The Times in 2022 that her music taste was shaped in part by her upbringing in L.A., where she attended massive music festivals and local Día de los Muertos celebrations alike.

“I learned that there can be fun in the darkness,” she said.

It wasn’t too good to be true, but it was too good to remain true.

World Cup fans still reeling from FIFA’s pricey water policy change have a new gripe: Soccer’s governing body is demanding payment from about 60 people who secured tickets for free because of a glitch on the FIFA website during checkout.

FIFA confirmed the mistake with a swift response, issuing a statement that said pay up or stay home:

“The tickets requested by these fans remain reserved, and the affected fans have been invited to complete payment of the correct amount. FIFA regrets the error and any inconvenience caused.”

What, did anyone think a governing body denying fans free water in the summer heat would allow 60 souls into stadiums without paying admission? Even when FIFA admitted its mistake?

One week before matches begin in 16 North American venues, including SoFi Stadium that will be referred to during the tournament as Los Angeles Stadium, FIFA reversed its policy that allowed refillable plastic bottles when temperatures were high enough to justify it.

Now, no plastic water bottles are allowed except the ones sold in the stadium. Last summer during the Club World Cup, bottled water at FIFA venues fetched $4 to $6.

Coca-Cola products will be sold at all World Cup venues, including Dasani water. In a statement to the Athletic on Thursday night, FIFA skirted questions about whether it was influenced by commercial priorities.

“The decision to prohibit capped water bottles is based on a number of factors related to safety and security, including mitigating risks to players and spectators, ensuring a safe and efficient ingress experience for all attendees, and the presence of additional heat mitigation and alternative hydration strategies at FIFA World Cup 2026 stadiums,” the statement read.

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow questioned FIFA’s motive.

“Why do you need to buy a water bottle when you can just carry your water in? It is cheaper that way and it is good for the environment,” Chow told CTV News. “It is outrageous. They are just trying to make more money. They are already making billions of dollars. Stop it.”

Chow’s ire likely grew upon learning that the group-stage matches the 60 people who now must pay for tickets FIFA mistakenly provided them are all in Toronto.

Complaints have mushroomed for months about World Cup ticket price fluctuations caused by sophisticated algorithms that can dramatically increase costs based on demand. Prices adjust in real time, increasing when interest surges.

The attorneys general of New Jersey and New York a week ago launched an investigation into World Cup ticket sales following reports that fans were misled about the locations of seats they purchased.

The attorneys general sent subpoenas to FIFA, requesting details about ticketing practices for eight World Cup matches hosted in New Jersey, including the World Cup final.

FIFA has about $6.14 billion in total assets and $3 billion in cash reserves.

The organization has defended its steep ticket prices, saying they reflect standard practices for major global sporting and entertainment events.

Longtime soccer journalist Simon Kuper explained to The Times’ Kevin Baxter that FIFA can maximize profits because it has no competition.

“If you think of McDonald’s or Nike, they’re trying to please consumers because they know the consumers can go someplace else,” Kuper said. “There’s only one World Cup, so FIFA is a monopoly purveyor. It’s more like one man running the cash box.”

Parking will be another opportunity to generate revenue. A spot nearly two miles from SoFi Stadium will cost $300 for the U.S. opener against Paraguay next week.