Madonna will “vigorously defend” legal action brought by fans after she was more than two hours late for a show, her representatives have said.
The singer is being sued by two fans who attended her concert last month in New York.
The case says the pair “would not have paid for tickets” had they known it would finish so late.
The US singer’s representatives and promoter Live Nation said a technical issue caused the delay.
The joint statement read: “The shows opened in North America at Barclays in Brooklyn as planned, with the exception of a technical issue on December 13th during soundcheck.
“This caused a delay that was well documented in press reports at the time. We intend to defend this case vigorously.”
The statement added the tour’s recent European leg had “received rave reviews”.
The case, brought by Michael Fellows and Jonathan Hadden, states that “many ticketholders who attended concerts on a weeknight had to get up early to go to work and/or take care of their family responsibilities the next day”.
They are suing Live Nation and the Barclays Center for “false advertising, negligent misrepresentation, and unfair and deceptive trade practices”.
The Barclays Center is yet to respond to the lawsuit.
Mr Fellows and Mr Hadden attended the show on Wednesday 13 December 2023 and said it was meant to start at 20:30 EST (4.30 PM EAT on Thursday) but it did not begin until after 22:30 (6.30PM).
The lawsuit claims that other nights at the same venue, on 14 and 16 December, also reportedly started more than two hours late.
“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, which resulted in the ticketholders waiting for hours,” the document states.
The court papers also claim Madonna “has a long history of arriving and starting her concerts late, sometimes several hours late”, citing examples including “her 2016 Rebel Heart Tour, her 2019-2020 Madame X Tour, and prior tours, where Madonna continuously started her concerts over two hours late”.
The plaintiffs are suing for unspecified damages.
