Howard Stern Urges Madonna to Apologize for Starting Concerts 2 Hours Late: 'There's No Excuse'
People in showbiz are continuing to give their two cents about Madonna starting her shows hours late.
Howard Stern discussed the drama on an episode of The Howard Stern Show just a few days after two of the singer's concertgoers sued her and LiveNation for "wanton exercise in false advertising, negligent misrepresentation and unfair and deceptive trade practices."
"I don't understand going on late," the famous disc jockey, 70, stated. "I think Madonna's a great talent, and what she's done in the music industry is just phenomenal. But there is a certain respect you give your audience."
"It's the same thing when you go to a doctor, when they keep you waiting a half-hour," he noted. "You try to understand, maybe he's dealing with a life or death situation. But if he was two-and-a-half hours late, you're like, 'What the f--- is this guy doing?'"
"What could be keeping her?" Stern pondered. "I don't understand it. I'm one of those punctual people. I'm on time for everything. Very rarely in my life have I ever been late. It's disrespectful."
The radio star explained that "people in the music industry live in a bubble," as they're basically their own boss, therefore, they don't often have anyone reprimanding them.
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"I would say Madonna should issue an apology and say, 'I'm sorry and I'm going to try and do better.' Because really, there's no excuse," he concluded. "You can't go on late. You can't."
Stern noted that the Grammy winner, 65, was sued for the same thing in 2019 and 2020, but both of the suits were dropped.
He added that he wasn't "just picking on Madonna," as it would be rude for anyone to come on stage after more than a 20-minute delay.
As OK! reported, the two men who sued the mom-of-six are named Michael Fellows and Jonathan Hadden. In the paperwork, the fans said Madonna's performance didn't kick off until 10:30 p.m. despite a scheduled start time of 8:30 p.m.
Since the show didn't end until after 1 a.m., the men were "confronted with limited public transportation, limited ride-sharing and/or increased public and private transportation costs."
In addition, Fellows and Hadden complained the late time interfered with them having to "get up early to go to work and/or take care of their family responsibilities the next day."
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The "Like a Prayer" vocalist hasn't commented on the situation, though she did address the 2019 lawsuit during one of her Las Vegas concerts, telling the crowd back then, "There’s something that you all need to understand. And that is, that a queen is never late."