NEW YORK — Madonna and Live Nation are expressing themselves after a lawsuit filed by two of her fans, who were angry when a recent concert in New York City began two hours after its scheduled start.
The Material Girl, 65, and the entertainment company said in a statement on Wednesday that they dispute some of the allegations made in the class-action suit and plan to “defend this case vigorously,” Billboard reported.
According to the lawsuit, concertgoers Michael Fellows and Jonathan Hadden accused Madonna and Live Nation of “false advertising, negligent misrepresentation, and unfair and deceptive trade practices.” Their complaint came after Madonna’s concert at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Dec. 13, 2023, began at 10:30 p.m. EST, Rolling Stone reported.
Madonna's representative and Live Nation say a lawsuit against the singer over late concert start times has “no merit,” adding: "We intend to defend this case vigorously." https://t.co/9ysOC3I4OH
— Variety (@Variety) January 24, 2024
The concert originally had an advertised start of 8:30 p.m., according to the magazine. The arena was also named as a defendant in the lawsuit, according to Billboard.
“The shows opened in North America at Barclays in Brooklyn as planned, with the exception of a technical issue December 13th during soundcheck,” Madonna’s representatives and Live Nation said in a joint statement. “This caused a delay that was well documented in press reports at the time. We intend to defend this case vigorously.”
In their complaint, filed in a Brooklyn federal court, Fellows and Hadden said that the concert delay caused legal harm to ticket holders, who, among other things, “had to get up early to go to work” the following day, Billboard reported.
“Defendants’ actions constitute not just a breach of their contracts … but also a wanton exercise in false advertising, negligent misrepresentation, and unfair and deceptive trade practices,” attorneys for the two men wrote in the complaint, according to Billboard.
The plaintiffs are suing for unspecified damages. They claimed that they “would not have paid for tickets” had they known about the start time, People reported.
Madonna’s scheduled concert on Dec. 14 also began late, Entertainment Weekly reported. The entertainment website said the concert, which also was scheduled to start at 8:30 p.m., did not begin until shortly after 10 p.m.
The concerts were part of Madonna’s Celebration Tour. They were rescheduled from July after the singer was hospitalized for “a serious bacterial infection.”
Madonna and Live Nation have been sued before by fans upset by tardy concert starts. A similar lawsuit was filed in 2019 after a show in Miami started several hours late, CNN reported.
The suit, filed in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court, was ultimately dropped, according to Rolling Stone.
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