Madonna Slams Fans’ Lawsuit: ‘Needing to Wake Up Early’ Not Grounds to Sue

Madonna fired back at fans in New York City who are suing her for taking the stage at her Barclays Center concerts last year later than their advertised start times.

Her lawyers filed a motion on Wednesday, April 3, urging a federal judge to dismiss the class action lawsuit on the grounds that needing to “get up early to go to work” is not a legal “injury” one can sue over, Billboard reports.

Concertgoers Michael Fellows and Jonathan Hadden filed the suit, saying Madonna began three December 2023 shows in Brooklyn more than two hours later than the scheduled start time. The complaint, filed in January, states that Madonna did not start those Celebration Tour shows until after 10:30 p.m. despite advertising an 8:30 p,m. start time.

“Defendants failed to provide any notice to the ticketholders that the concerts would start much later than the start time printed on the ticket and as advertised,” their attorneys wrote, adding that had they known when Madonna’s set would actually begin, they would not have bought tickets.

Instead, Fellows and Hadden were “left stranded in the middle of the night” with limited public transportation options and increased prices for ride share services. Barclays Center is located next to the New York City subway system’s Atlantic Avenue/Barclays Center Station, which serves nine subway lines 24 hours a day, though trains are less frequent late at night.

“Plaintiffs speculate that ticketholders who left the venue after 1 a.m. might have had trouble getting a ride home or might have needed to wake up early the next day for work,” Madonna’s lawyers wrote in the motion. “That is not a cognizable injury.”

They added that Hadden later raved about the concert on Facebook, writing “incredible, as always!” They say this demonstrates that the show “met or exceeded his expectations.”

Madonna’s lawyers also say that no “reasonable concertgoer” would expect the headlining act to begin their set at the exact time advertised on their ticket.

“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,” they wrote.

Fellows and Hadden also did not leave the concert early, which Madonna’s attorneys noted they were free to do at any time if they had concerns about getting home or waking up early for work the next day.

“Indeed, plaintiffs do not plead any injury that they themselves suffered by spending the night at an ‘incredible’ concert,” the lawyers wrote.