Madonna sued by fans over concert starting late
Madonna is being sued by two former fans, after her concert started more than two hours behind schedule.
The lawsuit was filed in Brooklyn federal court on Wednesday, with New York residents and former fans Michael Fellows and Jonathan Hadden saying the pop star’s actions were "unconscionable and unfair.”
The men are suing the veteran performer for "deceptive trade practices" and "false advertisement", after they attended her concert at the New York Barclays Center last December.
As per the flyers for the show, Madonna was set to take to the stage at 8:30pm, but the highly-anticipated show didn’t begin until well after 10:30pm.
The complainants said that the callous delay resulted in the fans facing issues like "limited public transportation, limited ride-sharing, and/or increased public and private transportation costs" after the show on December 13th ended past midnight.
According to Fellows and Hadden, this constitutes a breach of contract.
"Madonna had demonstrated flippant difficulty in ensuring a timely or complete performance, and Defendants were aware that any statement as to a start time for a show constituted, at best, optimistic speculation," the statement read.
The lawsuit went on to claim that Madonna’s disregard for timeliness was not an isolated incident, with her following two shows also starting hours behind schedule.
They said the performer's actions "constitute not just a breach of their contracts but also a wanton exercise in false advertising" and "negligent misrepresentation."
Madonna has a history of beginning her shows late, the case claims: "Throughout her 2016 Rebel Heart Tour, her 2019-2020 Madame X Tour, and prior tours... Madonna continuously started her concerts over two hours late," with this history constituting a class-action status for the lawsuit.
Back in 2016, Madonna was called out for her late behaviour, dismissively joking, “I’m hardly ever late. It’s you people that get here early that’s the problem. Just come late and I won’t have to come early.”
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