Two fans of Madonna filed a lawsuit against the singer on Jan. 17, accusing her of "false advertising, negligent misrepresentation and unfair and deceptive trade practices," after she started her Brooklyn, New York, concerts hours late in December.
The civil lawsuit — filed in Brooklyn federal court by Michael Fellows and Jonathan Hadden — lists Madonna, Live Nation and the Barclays Center as defendants. The suit says that the singer showed up more than two hours late to her shows on Dec. 13, 14 and 16, 2023, leaving concertgoers waiting for hours and "confronted with limited public transportation, limited ride-sharing, and/or increased public and private transportation costs at that late hour" after the show.
The suit also states that many people attended the concerts on a weeknight and then had to get up early the following morning to go to work or care for their families.
The lawsuit notes previous instances where Madonna started her concerts significantly later than the advertised time, citing earlier tours. It also says that the pop star was late to start other "Celebration Tour" concerts, including those in Boston and Washington, D.C.
According to Setlist.fm, a crowd-sourced website tracks which songs are played and what time shows start for major concerts, Madonna starts her shows an average of 3 hours and 3 minutes after the doors to the venue open. For the aforementioned Boston shows (held Jan. 8 and 9, 2024), the doors opened at 7:30 and the shows started at 10:15 p.m. and 9:50 p.m., respectively.
For the concerts in New York that are the subject of the lawsuit, Setlist.fm reports the singer started her show at 10:50 p.m. on Dec. 13 and then took the stage at 10:20 p.m. for the following two shows at Barclays.
Representatives for all three defendants did not respond to NBC News' request for comment on Jan. 18.
The lawsuit asks for a jury trial and is filed as a class action — meaning anyone who purchased a ticket to the listed show would potentially be eligible for a settlement or award.
The lawsuit says that Fellows, Hadden and any other potential plaintiffs "suffered actual harm" because of Madonna’s tardiness that included "annoyance, harassment, time, frustration and anger."
