The New Yorkers went to a concert at Barclays Center in December.
Two men from New York City wanted to get into the groove of a Madonna concert. Now, they're suing the pop star for starting her show late because they had to wake up early the next day.
Brooklyn's Michael Fellows and Bronx's Jonathan Haden bought tickets to Madonna's December 13 “Celebration” concert at Barclays Center.
Tickets said the show would start at 8:30 p.m., but Madonna didn't take the stage until sometime after 10:45 p.m., according to the lawsuit, and the men said they “experienced limited public transportation and limited ride sharing.” and/or increased public and private transportation costs” by the time the show starts at 1 a.m
Perhaps emboldened by Madonna's urging to express themselves, Fellowes and Haden also complained that the concert was not a holiday because they “had to get up early to go to work and/or take care of their family responsibilities the next day.”
Fellows and Haden are suing Madonna, Live Nation and Barclays Center for “unreasonable, unfair and/or deceptive business practices” for promising the audience that the concert would begin at 8:30 p.m. knowing that Madonna would not begin performing at the advertised start. time. The husband argues there is a breach of contract.
“Madonna demonstrated apparent difficulty in ensuring a complete, timely performance, and Defendants were aware that any statement regarding the start time of the show constituted, at best, optimistic speculation,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit filed Wednesday in Brooklyn federal court seeks class-action status because the men said their concerns about another “partying” tour started similarly late.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.
“Based on Madonna's extended history of arriving several hours late for her previous concerts (and behavior that continued at concerts in other cities after concerts at Barclays Center, including concerts in Washington, D.C., and Boston), Plaintiffs knew or should have known They have to know that.” “It was known that the concerts would not start at 8:30 p.m., and that Madonna would not take the stage until several hours after the start time, causing Plaintiffs and all class members to have to wait several hours,” the lawsuit states.
Madonna kicked off her “Celebration Tour” in October at London's O2 Arena after initially having to postpone the tour following a medical scare. The tour was scheduled to begin in July 2023, but was forced to postpone Because he was hospitalized In June due to a serious bacterial infection.
ABC News has reached out to Madonna's representative as well as Live Nation and Barclays Center for comment.
Madonna has faced similar lawsuits before. During her 2019 “Madame X” tour, she was sued several times for starting concerts late.
A Florida man, Nate Hollander, sued Madonna and Live Nation in November 2019, alleging that they moved a concert two hours later than originally planned and that it was too late for him to attend. Hollander voluntarily dismissed the lawsuit after just one month, according to court records.
On the same Madame X tour, two concertgoers at a show in Brooklyn, New York, filed a lawsuit similar to the one filed this week. Andrew Banos and Antonio Villota filed a lawsuit against Live Nation, the Brooklyn Academy of Music and Madonna in February 2020 alleging that the pop star did not start her two shows at the venue until more than two hours after the start time listed on the tickets. Panos and Vilotta reached an unspecified settlement in July 2020 and the lawsuit was voluntarily dismissed, according to court documents.
ABC News' Mark Osborne contributed to this report.
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