People won't stop suing Madonna

Look, we know convictions are pretty trendy right now and we lost the War On Discourse long, long ago, but it seems like the world needs a little refresher on art school 101: art is subjective. Sometimes, art is even bad. Art can be disappointing, gross, frustrating, infuriating, any number of things. That’s the point! Sometimes Ana De Armas isn’t in the movie. That doesn’t automatically make it illegal!

Anyway, yet another fan has sued Madonna because it sounds like he just had a really crummy time at her show earlier this spring. In a lawsuit filed Wednesday morning (via The Guardian), a man named Justen Lipeles alleged that Madonna’s March 4 show at Los Angeles’ Kia Forum contained “pornography without warning” and that he “was forced to watch topless women on stage simulating sex acts. Plaintiff felt like he was watching a pornographic film being made.” It’s reasonable to assume that not everyone would have seen the videos on X and TikTok documenting almost every minute of this tour (including the alleged “sex acts”) before attending, but even if he hadn’t—it’s Madonna. She’s been doing this for years.

The explicit material wasn’t Lipeles’ only complaint. Like the previous Madonna lawsuit, the plaintiff was distressed that the concert, which was scheduled to begin at 8:30 p.m., actually commenced at 10 p.m. “Defendants did not provide any notice to plaintiff that the concert will start at a later time,” the filing read. Further, “the temperature inside the Kia Forum was uncomfortably hot as required by Madonna who refused to allow the air conditioning to be turned on.” It’s unclear how Lipeles surmised that this order had come directly from the Queen of Pop herself, but the suit goes on to allege that he was “profusely 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.”

Here’s the real kicker: “Further, during most of the performance it was apparent to plaintiff that Madonna was lip-syncing.” You couldn’t script that if you tried. The suit goes on to allege that Madonna’s actions were “intentional, extreme and outrageous,” and that “such actions were done with the intent to cause serious emotional distress.” Overall Lipeles is suing for breach of contract, negligent misrepresentation, unfair competition, false advertising and emotional distress. He is seeking compensatory damages, along with his legal costs and a refund for the concert tickets, which he bought four of at $500 each.

This lawsuit echoes one filed on behalf of concertgoers Michael Fellows and Jonathan Hadden in January, which called the late start to Madonna’s show at New York City’s Barclays Center a “wanton exercise in false advertising” and claimed that this meant fans had access to “limited public transportation, limited ride-sharing, and/or increased public and private transportation costs.”

In response to the January suit, the artist’s team claimed that the delay was caused by a “technical issue… during soundcheck” and stated that they “intend to defend this case vigorously.” They have not yet commented on this week’s suit.