Madonna has been hit with another lawsuit over her Celebration Tour.
In a complaint filed in the Los Angeles County Superior Court on Wednesday, May 29, concertgoer Justen Lipeles alleged that he and the audience were subjected to unwanted sexual exposure to content during her March 7 concert at the Kia Forum in L.A., according to court docs obtained by Entertainment Weekly.
Lipeles accused the pop icon, 65, and tour organizers of negligent misrepresentation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, breach of written contract and false advertising in his filing, claiming that the crowd had to wait more than an hour for her to hit the stage. The concert allegedly was supposed to begin at 8:30 p.m. but did not start until 10 p.m., Lipeles claimed.
Additionally, Lipeles alleged that the audience was subjected to “pornography without warning,” including “topless women on stage simulating sex acts.” He also claimed that Madonna had the air conditioning turned off during the concert, causing him to fall ill in the sweltering heat, and that the “Like a Virgin” singer lip-synched through some of her performance when the crowd was promised a live show.
“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,” the complaint read, per EW.
Us Weekly has reached out to Madonna’s team for comment.
Lipeles’ suit against the seven-time Grammy Award winner is similar to the complaint filed by concert attendees Michael Fellows and Jonathan Hadden in January after the pair attended a show the month prior.
In their court filing, they stated that the show was advertised to begin at 8:30 p.m., but they did not see the singer take the stage until “between 10:45 p.m. and 11:00 p.m.” The two men accused Madonna, promoter Live Nation and the venue of “unconscionable, unfair and/or deceptive trade practices” by listing 8:30 p.m. as the start time.
They also complained about the delayed show ending around 1 a.m., causing them to encounter issues with “limited public transportation, limited ride-sharing and/or increased public and private transportation costs.”
In response to the suit, Live Nation and Madonna’s longtime manager, Guy Oseary, told CNN in a statement, “The shows opened in North America at Barclays in Brooklyn as planned, with the exception of a technical issue Dec. 13 during soundcheck. This caused a delay that was well documented in press reports at the time. We intend to defend this case vigorously.”
Madonna has faced other similar lawsuits before. During her 2019 Madame X Tour, she was sued multiple times for starting concerts late.
The Celebration Tour was originally scheduled to kick off in July 2023, but it was pushed back after Madonna was hospitalized one month prior for a bacterial infection. The tour eventually began in London on October 14, 2023, and ran through April 26 in Mexico City.
