May 31, 2024

"In a complaint filed Wednesday... Justen Lipeles... alleges that [Madonna concert] attendees were subjected to 'pornography without warning'..."

"... including 'topless women on stage simulating sex acts' in an uncomfortable, sweltering environment. He claims that Madonna demanded the air conditioning be turned off and he became physically ill in the heat. Lipeles also cites Madonna's tardiness.... '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'...."

From "Madonna hit with new lawsuit alleging unwanted exposure to sexual content and emotional distress/California concert attendee Justen Lipeles is the latest to sue the pop star over her 'Celebration' tour" (Entertainment Weekly).

It was hot and she was late are not interesting complaints. The key phrase here is "pornography without warning." I remember seeing "Marat/Sade" in New York in the 1960s when I was a teenager and feeling quite surprised to see the lead actor become completely naked at one point. Somehow I dealt with it. Should I have been warned? It was supposed to be shocking, not that it was "pornography without warning." It was about revolution and madness, not sex.

Maybe some people would like advance consent to anything sexual, including a theatrical performance. Isn't it enough to know it's Madonna? Who goes to a Madonna concert then complains about topless women on stage simulating sex acts?

31 comments:

tim maguire said...

Sounds like a frivolous lawsuit for the reason you state—it’s a Madonna concert. Isn’t that warning enough.

Since when are warnings a legal obligation? TV shows have warnings at the beginning—warnings that get sillier with each passing year (warnings about smoking, warnings about intense scenes n a drama, violence in a murder mystery etc.)—but when did they become required? I hope the answer is never.

R C Belaire said...

There's absolutely nothing in Madonna's "entertainment" history to suggest something like this could happen... What a surprise!

Iman said...

C’mon, man!

It goes in teh goes outa…

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

I detest Madonna.
Why would anyone pay, and stand in line for that hot garbage?

Amadeus 48 said...

She is past her pull-by date. She has to do something to get a crowd. Was this worse than her notorious butt implants the last time around?

wendybar said...

She's a pig. Burn down her house. (in reference to her hatred for Trump)

Rocco said...

Is simulated sex 'pornography'? If so, most mainstream movies with a sex scene are 'pornography'.

mikee said...

Were the topless dancers around the same age as the star of the show?
That might make it more of a case.

Blair said...

This is a bit like when Evan Rachel Wood claimed Marilyn Manson abused her. Yes ladies, the product does exactly what it says on the tin. Duh.

Ralph L said...

In 1975, when I was 14 and my brother 16, my mother thought we'd go see a new play about Billy the Kid at the Folger Theater, a small version of Shakespeare's Globe attached to the prestigious Folger Library behind the Supreme Court. We'd seen Henry IV part 2 and a modern comedy there. Bill and I sat in the middle of the front row, my parents in the back, of a nearly empty theater.

The language was pretty rough, then Billy and his girlfriend took their clothes off in dim light. The lights came up, and the girlfriend pranced on the stage for a while in Billy's pants and suspenders and a smile. My parents debated whether to drag us out but didn't. Dad said, Follow your mother, boys, and see the world. But we never went back to the Folger.

Tom T. said...

It's a Madonna show! If I *wasn't* exposed to pornography, I might sue.

Rocco said...

From Medusa: Dare to Be Truthful (1991): Vague/Party in My Pants https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNXxJrz9mqA

Temujin said...

If you listen to Madonna, you are already suffering from emotional distress. She didn't cause it. She's a symptom.

ron winkleheimer said...

Their looking for go away money, but the chances of that are zero. If Madonna starts paying go away money then the lawsuits would never end.

Never pay the Danegeld. If you do the Dane will never go away.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

Make her pay

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

Madonna's music is for horny gay gays. boring.

Yancey Ward said...

Guess it was his first Madonna concert.

Yancey Ward said...

Madonna should not settle this and should go for having him pay lawyer fees.

Another old lawyer said...

Have any of the online gambling businesses put odds on Madonna eventually showing up on an online porn site, maybe with her own dedicated channel? I feel like that would get some action.

Kate said...

A young woman died at an outdoor Taylor Swift concert in Brazil. Too hot. Swift rescheduled the next day's show and, visibly moved, paid respectful tribute onstage to the dead woman.

Madonna is no Tay-Tay, try as she might.

Rocco said...

Hunter Biden should get a job as a dancer for Madonna.

PM said...

MADONNA PHOTO: PABLO PORCIUNCULA/AFP
Yeah, okay, but who was the re-toucher?

MadisonMan said...

The infantilization of the American Public continues, a public full of fragile people who can't handle anything without girding their loins beforehand after receiving fair warning.
One wonders how they would have fared overseas during WWII.

CJinPA said...

"Pornography Without Warning" (PWW) sounds like a bad social media trend waiting to happen.

Saint Croix said...

Who goes to a Madonna concert then complains about topless women on stage simulating sex acts?

I don't know if "lawfare" is the right word. But it's yet another case of people using the court system to try to steal money.

Oligonicella said...

Anyone thinking Madonna gets a freebie for nudity on stage must logically believe it's OK for skin magazines to have tits showing on the covers on the rack.

Be consistent. Just because she's been around (in every sense of the phrase) for about a century doesn't grant her any largess.

Jupiter said...

"Who goes to a Madonna concert then complains about topless women on stage simulating sex acts?"

Hmmmm. Clearly, Justen Lipeles does. Who names their kid "Justen"?

robother said...

What next? A 90s Rapper who actually does the stuff he brags about doing in every rap song?

Deep State Reformer said...

Sounds like a "nuisance lawsuit" and he's just trolling for some money. "Please pay me to go away" in other words. Nothing earth shaking about it and so I wonder why it even made the news?

Deep State Reformer said...

Sounds like a "nuisance lawsuit" and he's just trolling for some money. "Please pay me to go away" in other words. Nothing earth shaking about it and so I wonder why it even made the news?

Lindsey said...

I’ve never heard of a concert with topless women on stage. I don’t think that is considered normal at all.