Pop icon Madonna is notorious for being late to her own shows — sometimes waiting an hour or two to take the stage. Now, two fans are suing the star for her tardiness, claiming they “had to get up early to go to work.”
According to a lawsuit obtained by Billboard, ticketholders Michael Fellows and Jonathan Hadden filed a suit against Madonna in a Brooklyn federal court on Wednesday for a show from December 13 at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. The plaintiffs allege the concert, which was already rescheduled from July after Madonna was hospitalized due to a bacterial infection, started more than two hours later than the original 8:30 p.m. starting time.
Fellows and Hadden claimed they would have never purchased a ticket if they “had they known that the concerts would start after 10:30 p.m,” noting that the singer did not notify ticketholders that the show would start much later than the start time on their ticket.
“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 suit.
Following the show, Fellows and Hadden claimed they were left with limited options for public transportation on a week night and dealt with increased ride share prices, leaving them “stranded in the middle of the night.” Additionally, they claimed further harm because they had to “get up early and/or take care of their family responsibilities the next day.”
Promoter Live Nation and Barclays Center were also named as defendants in the suit. The pair were called-out in the suit for alleged negligent misrepresentation, as the plaintiffs’ lawyer claimed the concert organizers “should have known” Madonna would start the concert late.
Madonna is no stranger to showing up late to her own shows, and this isn’t the first time she’s faced a lawsuit for her tardiness. During her “Madame X World Tour,” she was sued by a pair of concertgoers after she showed-up three hours late to concerts in Brooklyn, as the pair claimed “extreme loss in value” due to the fact they had to leave early amid prior commitments the next morning. She was also sued by a concertgoer for being two hours late to a gig in Miami Beach; following the news, she addressed the suit at a Las Vegas show, telling the crowd: “There’s something that you all need to understand…And that is that a queen is never late.”
Aside from disgruntled fans, Madonna could also be hit with a hefty fine following her appearance at London’s O2 Arena. She arrived on stage late due to reported “technical issues” and ran past the venue’s strict curfew time. This could land her with a £300,000 fine, as the O2’s AEG and Transport for London include fines of £10,000 a minute for shows that overrun.
