Madonna has been hit with yet another lawsuit over her Celebration Tour – this time alleging false advertising and unwanted exposure to sexual content.
Justen Lipeles, who attended the singer’s 7 March concert at Los Angeles’ Kia Forum, has filed a class action suit accusing the Queen of Pop of breach of written contract, negligent misrepresentation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, false advertising, negligence/negligent infliction of emotional distress and unfair competition.
“During the performance plaintiff was forced to watch topless women on stage simulating sex acts,” reads the filing. “Plaintiff felt like he was watching a pornographic film being made.
Legal documents seen by the Guardian and The Blast show the plaintiff also accuses the Queen of Pop of lip-syncing and says he became ill in the heat after the star ordered the venue’s air conditioning to be shut off,
“The temperature inside the Kia Forum was uncomfortably hot as required by Madonna who refused to allow the air conditioning to be turned on,” continues the suit. “Further, during most of the performance it was apparent to plaintiff that Madonna was lip-syncing.”
Echoing other complaints filed against Madonna in Washington D.C. and New York over her alleged tardiness, Lipeles also says the gig did not begin until 10pm despite being advertised as starting at 8.30pm.
“Forcing consumers to wait hours in hot, uncomfortable arenas and subjecting them to pornography without warning is demonstrative of Madonna’s flippant disrespect for her fans”
“Defendants did not provide any notice to plaintiff that the concert will start at a later time,” continues the suit, which also names promoter Live Nation as a defendant. “Forcing consumers to wait hours in hot, uncomfortable arenas and subjecting them to pornography without warning is demonstrative of Madonna’s flippant disrespect for her fans.”
Madonna and Live Nation are yet to comment on the lawsuit.
Earlier this year, fans in Washington D.C. filed a lawsuit against Madonna for her late appearances at her December 2023 concerts in the city’s Capital One Arena They claimed that by starting her shows over two hours behind schedule, she showed “total disrespect for her fans” and also say they were forced to wait for hours in a “hot, uncomfortable arena,” claiming that Madonna herself had insisted on the temperature.
The case followed a similar filing by two fans who attended one of the star’s three shows at New York’s Barclays Center, also in December.
The 80-date Celebration Tour generated $227.2 million from 1.1 million ticket sales, according to Pollstar data. The outing, which ran from October 2023 to May 2024, visited Europe and North America before finishing with the biggest concert of the American pop icon’s career – a free show attended by an estimated 1.6m people on Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 4 May.
Madonna has generated box office takings of $1.61 billion over her 12 tours, selling more than 12.6 million tickets over 650 shows.
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