Madonna's Lawyers On Late Concert Lawsuit: 'No Madonna Fan' Would Expect Her To Start On Time

By Emily Richardson | Celebrity | April 5, 2024 |

By Emily Richardson | Celebrity | April 5, 2024 |

Back in January, two so-called Madonna fans sued the singer for starting her concert late. Michael Fellows and Jonathan Haddon went to the Celebration Tour show on Wednesday, December 13 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The plaintiffs said the show was marketed as starting at 8:30 pm, but Madonna didn’t go on until 10:30 pm. They called this a “wanton exercise in false advertising, negligent misrepresentation, and unfair and deceptive trade practices.”

On Wednesday, Madonna’s legal team filed a motion asking the judge to dismiss the suit entirely. According to court docs obtained by Entertainment Weekly, the lawyers allege there were never “any statements promising when Madonna would take the stage or end her show.” They admit the event was scheduled for 8:30 pm and “that time was printed on the event tickets,” but maintain Madge never advertised that’s when she’d officially start the show. The docs continue:

“No reasonable concertgoer - and certainly no Madonna fan - would expect the headline act at a major arena concert to take the stage at the ticketed event time.

“Rather, a reasonable concertgoer would understand that the venue’s doors will open at or before the ticketed time, one or more opening acts may perform while attendees arrive and make their way to their seats and before the headline act takes the stage, and the headline act will take the stage later in the evening.”

And, according to the lawyers, the plaintiffs are Madonna fans. Wednesday’s request for dismissal contains screenshots from Jonathan’s Facebook where he praises the Celebration Tour and talks about attending multiple Madonna shows in the past. Ooooh. Ipso facto (that’s just fancy Latin for ‘therefore’, right?), the lawyers say he “knew or should have known that the concerts would not start at 8:30 pm.”

Finally, the legal teams address the plaintiffs’ alleged suffering.
In their suit, Jonathan and Michael claimed the concert ending past 1:00 am meant they were “confronted” with limited transportation and increased travel costs. Cuz it was late. Oh, and “they had to get up early to go to work and/or take care of their family responsibilities the next day.” But Madonna’s lawyers say arriving home late “is not a cognizable injury” to sue their client.

So, essentially, the legal team is saying, “Boohoo, don’t go to a concert on a weeknight if you don’t wanna be groggy the next morning. Just admit you love the Queen of Pop and knew exactly what you were getting into.” Your move, The Judge!