The cellar-dwelling Knicks are running a series of 30-second TV ads that purportedly feature real-life fans talking up their heartfelt team devotion.
But the commercials conveniently fail to tell viewers the “fans” are really paid actors.
“My agent sent me the thing, and I went on an audition for it, and then we shot it outside MSG,” said 32-year-old actor Joshua Sankey, who played a fan scavenging for Eddie Curry’s socks.
“I auditioned. They wanted me to play a blue-collar guy. They asked me if I was a fan or not but they said I didn’t have to be.”
The Knicks said they hired casting agents from the appropriately named Impossible Casting to bring in devoted fans.
Team officials admitted that actors were used but claimed the ads were done in good faith.
“The people in the spots are both actors and Knick fans – categories that are not mutually exclusive,” according to a team spokesman, in full spin control of this latest humiliation.
“But make no mistake about it – these are true Knick fans.”
Sort of.
Craig Lechner, owner of Impossible Casting, said MSG gave him explicit orders to seek actors as long as they weren’t SAG members or recognizable character players.
“We’re not mavericks. I have to protect my reputation,” Lechner said.
“They said actors were OK. It says that on their letterhead. I have the proof.”
Lechner also said the actors used are in fact – believe it or not – fans of the pathetic 9-25 Knicks.
“We vetted them only on their Knick-fan status,” he said. “There is not one person pretending to be a Knicks fan.”
Clyde Baldo, 52, admitted to being a part-time actor but insisted his full-time job was that of a psychotherapist and crazed Knick fan.
“I am the biggest Knick fan of all time. I am Mr. Knick fan!” he said, taking a moment to speak during a therapy session.
“I do do acting, but I’m a big Knick fan.”
Jack Dempsey, who has been on the soap opera “Guiding Light” and has a sprinkling of other TV, film and stage credits, said he needs all the work he can get to supplement his day job in advertising and marketing.
“I try to get as much work as I can, but, like a lot of other New York actors, we have other jobs,” Dempsey told The New York Press.
One player in the ads, filmmaker Matt Berkowitz, insists that real fans were cast.
Berkowitz, who just completed a documentary on American Jews in basketball, said: “My film qualifies me as a fan. I’m much more than an actor. The Knicks are part of my life.”
Additional reporting by Bill Hoffmann
mkronfeld@nypost.com