Madonna has been sued by a concertgoer at her Celebration world tour, who alleges that Madonna produced âpornography without warningâ and he âwas forced to watch topless women on stage simulating sex actsâ.
In the lawsuit filed on Wednesday in Los Angeles and seen by the Guardian, the plaintiff, Justen Lipeles, makes a series of allegations regarding her 7 March concert at the Kia Forum venue in the city. The concertâs promoter, Live Nation, is named alongside Madonna as a defendant.
Lipeles bought four tickets at $500 (£390) each, which stated that the concert would start at 8.30pm. Lipelesâ lawsuit complains that the concert actually began at 10pm, claiming: âDefendants did not provide any notice to plaintiff that the concert will start at a later time.â
The lawsuit continues: âThe temperature inside the Kia Forum was uncomfortably hot as required by Madonna who refused to allow the air conditioning to be turned on.â Lipeles was duly âprofusely sweating and became physically ill as a result of the heat. When fans complained about the heat, Madonna unreasonably told them to take their clothes off.
âFurther, during most of the performance it was apparent to plaintiff that Madonna was lip-syncing.
âDuring the performance plaintiff was forced to watch topless women on stage simulating sex acts. Plaintiff felt like he was watching a pornographic film being made.â
Lipeles is suing for breach of contract, negligent misrepresentation, unfair competition, false advertising and emotional distress.
Regarding the latter, the lawsuit says Madonnaâs actions were âintentional, extreme and outrageousâ, and âsuch actions were done with the intent to cause serious emotional distress or with reckless disregard of the probability of causing ⦠serious emotional distressâ.
Lipeles is calling for compensatory damages, along with his legal costs and a refund for the concert tickets.
Madonna and Live Nation have not commented on the lawsuit. The Guardian has contacted representatives of each for comment.
The case has echoes of another lawsuit from earlier in the Celebration tour run.
In January, New Yorkers Michael Fellows and Jonathan Hadden sued Madonna for a late start â but not any alleged pornography â at her 13 December concert at Brooklynâs Barclays Center. After Madonna began the concert at 10.30pm, the pair said they were âleft strandedâ after leaving at 1am, and the lateness interfered with the following day when they âhad to get up early to go to workâ.
A statement by Madonna and Live Nation said they would âdefend this case vigorouslyâ, saying that the late start was due to a technical issue.
Madonna previously faced lawsuits in 2019 and 2020 complaining of her lateness during the Madame X tour, both of which were dismissed.
Despite the disgruntlement of Lipeles, Fellows and Hadden, the Celebration tour has been well-received by critics and audiences, with the Guardianâs Alexis Petridis writing in a four-star review that her âstrengths seem very strong indeedâ.
After 80 dates and $225m in ticket revenue, the tour concluded with a free concert on Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro for an estimated 1.6 million people.
