Madonna responded to fans who sued her for starting her concert late by saying they got exactly “what they paid for” and that no true fan could expect the Queen of Pop to perform on time, court documents revealed.
Concertgoers Michael Fellows and Jonathan Hadden accused pop icon and concert organizer Live Nation of false advertising after the 65-year-old singer arrived three hours late for her performance at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on December 13.
The lawsuit filed in January claims the late starts constitute a “rampant exercise in false advertising, negligent misrepresentation, and unfair and deceptive business practices.”
Court documents obtained by DailyMail.com show that Material Girl’s lawyers filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit on Wednesday arguing that it was illogical for them to expect her to start the show on time.
“No reasonable concertgoer – and certainly no Madonna fan – would expect the headline act of a major concert to take the stage at the scheduled time of the event,” the document said.
“Fans got just what they paid for: a complete, high-quality show from the Queen of Pop.”
Madonna responded to fans who sued her for starting her concert late by saying they got exactly “what they paid for.”
Concertgoers Michael Fellows and Jonathan Hadden (pictured) have accused pop icon and concert organizer Live Nation of false advertising.
Her lawyer also referenced a Facebook post by Hadden from the day after the concert in which she shared a photo of the tour poster and said: ‘I saw her at the premiere of her North American tour last night! A tribute to New York! Incredible, as always! I’ve never missed a Madonna tour!’
“In other words, the concert met or exceeded your expectations,” the document says.
In their lawsuit, the plaintiffs argued that this was false advertising and that they suffered damages because the concert did not start at the time indicated on the ticket.
They said that because the show started much later than expected, it put ticket holders at risk due to “limited public transportation, limited ride-sharing, and/or increased public and private transportation costs at that late hour.”
“In addition, many ticket buyers who attended weekday concerts had to get up early to go to work and/or attend to family responsibilities the next day,” the lawsuit says.
Madonna’s team argued that they have nothing to support that and said that ticket holders having to stay up late and then get up early the next day “is not a recognizable injury.”
‘The complaint itself admits that Madonna fans, like Mr. Hadden, would not expect Madonna to appear on stage at the event’s printed time of 8:30 p.m., claiming that she has a “year-long history” of “arriving several hours late to the previous presentations”. “concerts,” so “plaintiffs knew or should have known that the concerts would not begin at 8:30 p.m.,” the filing says.
‘Reasonable concert-goers also know that concert lengths vary based on numerous factors, such as the length of the opening act and the artist’s set list for the night. Therefore, they wouldn’t reasonably expect the night to end at 10:30pm unless an advert or entry said so, and none here said so.’
Material Girl’s lawyers said no real Madonna fan would expect her to start her concert on time.
Madonna’s lawyers said the damages the plaintiffs are claiming, such as having to get up early the next day, “are not cognizable.”
It was explained that the delay was due to technical problems and that the show had been delayed by only an hour.
The plaintiffs acknowledge that Madonna had health problems (last year she faced a life-threatening bacterial infection), which caused the original concert dates to be postponed from July to December, but they do not see that as an excuse for the night delays.
Despite the delay, he put on a very daring show and surprised his fans as he performed his 45-song setlist highlighting his record-breaking 40-year career.
The delay was later explained to be due to technical issues and had been delayed by just an hour when the opening act, DJ Honey Dijon, took the stage at 8:30 p.m.
The Queen of Pop finally took the stage and began her show at 10:45 p.m.
However, many of the music icon’s fans took to social media to complain about waiting for the Material Girl hitmaker to start her show.
One X user tweeted: “I don’t give a damn if you’re Madonna, if you’re 3 hours late you’re fucking rude.”
‘The concert is supposed to start at 8:30. Madonna started at 11 at night. The entire ring chanting bulls at his delay. Great show but came too late,” another person wrote, adding that DJ Honey Dijon opened the show with “boring house music.”
‘2:30 hours late. I WANT A REFUND NOW,’ another X user demanded.
“I love Madonna but it’s really fucked up that she’s literally two hours late to her FIRST US show,” another tweeted.