Madonna is facing yet another federal class-action lawsuit over late concert starts, this time filed by rejected ticket buyers in Washington, D.C., who accuse her of showing “complete disrespect to her fans.”
In a complaint filed Friday in D.C. federal court, three fans claim the Queen of Pop broke the law by taking the stage two hours late for two December concerts at the city's Capital One Arena.
The lawsuit, which also named concert giant Live Nation as a defendant, says the delayed starts amount to a “misguided exercise in false advertising.”
“Forcing consumers to wait hours for her performance in a hot, uncomfortable arena is indicative of Madonna's arrogant and utter disrespect for her fans,” the fans' lawyers wrote. “Basically, Madonna and Live Nation are a consumer's worst nightmare.”
The new case comes three months after Madonna was hit with a similar lawsuit over late December shows in New York. That case made headlines because it claimed fans “had to get up early to go to work” the next day — a claim that Madonna's lawyers have since argued is not the kind of “known injury” that can form the basis of for a lawsuit.
In Friday's complaint, which was filed by the same attorneys as the New York case, the fans seemed intent on preventing the same kind of backlash. “This complaint is not about disgruntled fans who don't want to stay up late, but instead, sane, responsible people who had babysitting commitments, jobs, getting their vehicles out of parking lots that closed at 12:00 midnight and realizing that public transport would no longer operate.”
As in the previous case, the lawsuit is a proposed class action that aims to represent all fans who have experienced similar problems since the delayed launch. A representative for Madonna and Live Nation did not immediately return a request for comment Monday.
Filed by fans Elizabeth Halper-Asefi, Mary Conoboy and Nestor Monte, Jr., the new lawsuit alleges that the Dec. 18 and Dec. 19 tour dates on Madonna's Celebration Tour listed an 8:30 p.m. start time, but that the shows made it not start until 10:40. When the star finally took the stage, she is said to have made no apologies: “I'm sorry I'm late… no, I'm not sorry, I'm who I am… I'm always late.”
In the earlier New York case, lawyers for Madonna and Live Nation argued that “no reasonable audience member – and certainly no Madonna fan – would expect the headliner at a major arena concert to take the stage during the ticketed event ” and that fans can't sue for something they knew about when they bought their tickets.
But in Friday's complaint, attorneys for DC fans called that argument “preposterous.”
“In fact, reasonable consumers have seen that concerts by Taylor Swift and Bruce Springsteen, whose tours are also promoted by Live Nation, start at the time listed on the ticket and have similar experiences to attending Broadway theater, NFL football and the Major League Baseball games. “, the lawyers write.
The new case includes notable new allegations beyond the delayed start. For example, DC fans also claim that the venue was “uncomfortably hot” and that Madonna herself had insisted on the temperature. When fans allegedly shouted “AC” at her, she is said to have responded “f**k you! I'm cold!… If you're hot, take your clothes off!”
The new case also alleges that Madonna lip-synced portions of DC shows – another piece of alleged false advertising to fans who expected her to “play her music live” from the stage. “Had the plaintiffs and other class members known that … the performer would perform lip service, they would not have purchased their tickets.”
