Showbiz
Madonna has called to have a lawsuit thrown out by fans who are angry that one of her gigs started later than scheduled , citing her “years-long history” of “arriving several hours late to prior concerts”. Michael Fellows and Jonathan Hadden filed a civil lawsuit in January accusing the Material Girl
Singer, 65, of inconveniencing concertgoers after showing up more than two hours late for a show in
New York. Mr Fellows and Mr Hadden’s lawsuit, which is filed against both Madonna and entertainment company Live Nation, claimed that the December 13 show started at 10:30pm despite the tickets advertising an 8:30pm start time. The disgruntled fans state that they “would not have paid for tickets” had they known what time Madonna would take the stage. They argued that the delay, which they alleged happened again at the mum-of-six’s subsequent shows in Brooklyn on December 14 and December 16, was a “wanton exercise in false advertising, negligent misrepresentation, and unfair and deceptive trade practices”. Legal representatives acting for Madonna have now fired back, arguing in legal papers that needing to “get up early to go to work” the next day is not the kind of legal “injury” someone can sue over. Their motion said a fan wouldn’t expect Madonna to appear on stage for her Celebration tour at the time printed on the tickets as she had a “years-long history” of “arriving several hours late to prior concerts”. They also pointed out that “nowhere” on the ticket did it advertise that Madonna would start the show at 8:30pm and no reasonable concertgoer could expect the headline act to take the stage at the ticketed time. Adding: “Rather, a reasonable concertgoer would understand that the venue’s doors will open at or before the ticketed time, one or more opening acts may perform while attendees arrive and make their way to their seats and before the headline act takes the stage, and the headline act will take the stage later in the evening.” The 10 best ABBA songs, ranked: from Dancing
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