Madonna asks choose to toss lawsuit over late live performance begin time: “Followers acquired simply what they paid for”

Photo of author

By Calvin S. Nelson


Madonna’s attorneys on Thursday filed a movement to dismiss a lawsuit in opposition to the pop celebrity for beginning a live performance two hours late, arguing the plaintiffs did not display any clear accidents, court docket paperwork present.

Plaintiffs Michael Fellows and Jonathan Hadden filed the lawsuit earlier this yr after attending certainly one of Madonna’s world Celebration Tour reveals in Brooklyn in December, alleging they had been “misled” by the 8:30 p.m. marketed begin time.

In addition they sued Barclays Heart and Reside Nation for “wanton train in false promoting, negligent misrepresentation, and unfair and misleading commerce practices.”

The plaintiffs argued they would not have bought tickets in the event that they’d identified the live performance was going to begin at 10:30 p.m. In addition they claimed the present’s finish time of about 1 a.m. presumably inconvenienced or injured concertgoers on account of restricted transportation choices and being pressured to remain up later than deliberate.

Madonna’s attorneys argued that live shows hardly ever begin on time, and that hers particularly are well-known for his or her late begins. In addition they identified that Hadden posted on Fb the day after that live performance that he had “by no means missed a Madonna Tour” and that he later advised CNN he had “been to each Madonna tour since 1985,” making it clear the late begin time could not have come as a shock, the movement learn.

Based on the court docket paperwork, Hadden additionally praised the present on Fb, calling it “[i]ncredible, as all the time!”  

Madonna
Madonna performs throughout “The Celebration Tour” at Barclays Heart on December 14, 2023, in New York Metropolis.

Kevin Mazur/WireImage for Reside Nation


“Mr. Hadden’s press interviews at greatest recommend he could also be irritated that certainly one of his favourite acts takes the stage later than he would like,” the attorneys stated, arguing that this was not adequate grounds for a declare of damage.

Madonna’s attorneys additionally alleged there was no proof the late begin time injured any concertgoers, together with the plaintiffs, who they argued stayed to look at the entire present as a substitute of leaving early.

“Followers acquired simply what they paid for: a full-length, high-quality present by the Queen of Pop,” Madonna’s attorneys stated.

January’s lawsuit wasn’t the primary time followers tried to take motion over Madonna’s late begin time. In 2019, a Florida fan sued over Madonna’s delayed begin in Miami Seashore.

“There’s one thing that you simply all want to grasp,” Madonna advised her followers throughout a Las Vegas live performance in 2019. “And that’s, {that a} queen isn’t late.”

—Aliza Chasan contributed reporting.

Leave a Comment