Beyoncé gets cease-and-desist letter from James Dolan’s lawyers over video that depicts her picking up Sphere



Beyoncé got slapped with a cease-and-desist letter from attorneys for Madison Square Garden boss James Dolan — demanding that she ditch a video for her new global concert tour that depicts her picking up and toying with the Las Vegas Sphere, The Post has learned.

In a sharply worded letter to the diva’s production company Parkwood Entertainment, Kathleen McCarthy of the law firm King & Spalding, which represents Dolan’s Sphere Entertainment Group, accused the firm of prominently featuring and manipulating imagery of the Sphere without permission.

Several social media users who attended her initial set of concerts in Los Angeles last week posted clips showing the video which depicts a towering, hundreds-of-feet tall Beyoncé striding through the Las Vegas skyline.

A video from Beyoncé’s concert in Los Angeles last week shows a giant-sized version of the singer picking up the Las Vegas Sphere.

“Beyoncé — many orders of magnitude larger than the Sphere venue — leans over, picks up the venue, and looms over it,” McCarthy wrote in the Thursday letter obtained by The Post.

Sphere accused Beyoncé, who has never visited the venue, of “impermissible use and violation” of the company’s intellectual property rights, which “has resulted in significant speculation that Beyoncé will end her tour with a Sphere residency.”

“SEG was never asked and the prominent appearance and manipulation of SEG’s Sphere venue in the video is unauthorized,” McCarthy wrote in the letter.

Sphere has given Beyoncé a Monday deadline to halt use of the imagery in her videos.

The video was posted online by concertgoers who saw her shows in Los Angeles last week. TikTok/br1casso

If the singer fails to comply, SEG said it “reserves all rights to take further action as SEG deems appropriate without notice.”

The company is likewise demanding that Parkwood “cease and desist from using the Sphere venue in the video immediately — in addition to refraining from using this imagery on any merchandise, promotional or marketing materials, or in tour movies.”

Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter tour kicked off in Inglewood, Calif. last week, with multiple dates at SoFi Stadium before heading to major cities including Chicago, Houston, New York and London.

Video of Beyoncé playing with the Sphere went viral on social media. TikTok/br1casso

The global trek will continue through late July, concluding with two performances at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

Last year, The Post reported that Beyoncé’s negotiations for a residency at the Sphere collapsed after the venue refused her request to shut down for two weeks of rehearsals.

The singer’s team also sought around $10 million for a high-tech production, similar to what U2 received, further complicating talks, The Post previously reported.

James Dolan, executive chairman and CEO of Sphere Entertainment, is also CEO of Madison Square Garden Entertainment, parent company of the Knicks and Rangers. Brad Penner-Imagn Images

Beyoncé was said to be exploring a potential 100-show deal with rival venue MGM.

The Sphere controversy erupted as Beyoncé has struggled to sell out dates for her Cowboy Carter tour.

A glance at Ticketmaster’s website shows that there are plenty of good seats available for her scheduled July 25 concert at Allegiant Stadium, which is just four miles away from the Sphere.

The Post has sought comment from Beyoncé.



Source link

Related Posts