Madonna is being sued again over late starts to her live shows, with ticketholders in Washington D.C. accusing her of showing “total disrespect for her fans”.
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The federal class action lawsuit was filed in D.C. federal court last Friday (April 19), according to Billboard. Three fans claim that the singer broke the law by arriving on stage two hours late at a pair of gigs at the Capital One Arena in December 2023.
The complaint, which also names entertainment giant Live Nation as a defendant, claims that the delayed starts to the ‘Celebration Tour’ concerts constitute “a wanton exercise in false advertising”.
Lawyers for the fans wrote: “Forcing consumers to wait hours for her performance in a hot, uncomfortable arena is demonstrative of Madonna’s arrogant and total disrespect for her fans.
“In essence, Madonna and Live Nation are a consumer’s worst nightmare.”
They added: “This complaint is not about unhappy fans who don’t want to stay up late, but instead, reasonable, responsible people who had commitments to babysitters, work, getting their vehicles out of parking lots that closed at 12:00 midnight, and realising that public transportation would no longer be operating.”
The suit is a proposed class action that aims to represent all ticketholders who experienced similar problems from the late starts.
In the case, the three fans – Elizabeth Halper-Asefi, Mary Conoboy, and Nestor Monte, Jr. – claim that Madonna did not take to the stage until 10:40pm, despite a scheduled start time of 8:30pm.
According to the suit, the Queen Of Pop told those in attendance: “I am sorry I am late… no, I am not sorry, it’s who I am… I’m always late.”
The star and Live Nation’s lawyers argued that “no reasonable concertgoers – and certainly no Madonna fan – would expect the headline act at a major arena concert to take the stage at the ticketed event time”.
Additionally, they said fans could not take legal action over something they knew about when they purchased their tickets.
Lawyers for the new D.C. case called that argument “absurd”, writing: “In fact, reasonable consumers have seen that concerts featuring Taylor Swift and Bruce Springsteen, whose tours are also promoted by Live Nation, do start on the time indicated on the ticket and have similar experiences attending Broadway theatre, NFL football and Major League baseball games.”
The suit also claims that the arena was “uncomfortably hot”, and that Madonna herself had insisted on the high temperature. Fans are said to have chanted “A.C” at the star, but she allegedly responded: “Fuck you! I’m cold!… If you’re hot, take your fucking clothes off!”
It comes after she hit out at production staff for running the air conditioning at one of her recent shows in Miami, Florida.
Elsewhere, the new case accuses Madonna of lip-synching some parts of her D.C. performances – which it says is another case of false advertising: “Had plaintiffs and other class members known that […] the performer would be lip-synching, they would not have purchased their tickets.”
Last October, Madonna’s musical director Stuart Price insisted that the icon’s singing on her ‘Celebration Tour’ was “all live vocal”.
Representatives for Madonna and Live Nation have not yet responded to the new claims.
The artist’s career-spanning trek is due to conclude with a huge free concert in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on May 4, marking her biggest show ever.
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