The owner of Las Vegas’ Sphere has hit Beyoncé with a cease and desist letter over fan-shot concert footage that shows the superstar picking up a computer-generated version of the iconic Las Vegas venue and briefly juggling it between her hands, Billboard has confirmed.
“Beyoncé — many orders of magnitude larger than the Sphere venue — leans over, picks up the venue, and looms over it,” the letter reads, according to the New York Post, which first reported the news, leading to “significant speculation that Beyoncé will end her tour with a Sphere residency.” (Billboard has not independently obtained the letter.)
The filmed sequence, which plays during an interlude at Beyoncé’s newly launched Cowboy Carter tour, irked Sphere Entertainment Co. executive chairman/CEO James Dolan because Sphere unsuccessfully lobbied the “Texas Hold ‘Em” singer to perform at the venue in the past, sources with knowledge of the negotiations tell Billboard.
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Attorneys for Dolan, who is also the chairman/CEO of Madison Square Garden Entertainment Group, want Beyoncé to cut the brief sequence from her three-hour concert, which she performed for a second time at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles on Thursday (May 1).
The letter is addressed to Beyoncé’s production company, Parkwood Entertainment, on behalf of Sphere Entertainment Group and authored by Kathleen McCarthy of the law firm King & Spalding. In the letter, Spaulding accuses Parkwood of using imagery of the Sphere’s likeness “without permission” and accuses the singer of misleading her fans.
“It has recently come to SEG’s attention that a Cowboy Carter tour interlude video contains the unauthorized use of SEG’s intellectual property,” the letter reads. “SEG is sure that multiple aspects of the interlude video, including other brands, clips and music, were duly cleared by the tour with rights permissions from the rights holders whose works were used in the video, as is common practice. SEG, however, was never asked and the prominent appearance and manipulation of SEG’s Sphere™ venue in the video is unauthorized.”
“SEG demands that the tour cease and desist from using the Sphere™ venue in the video immediately,” the letter continues, demanding that Parkwood “refrain from using this imagery on any merchandise, promotional or marketing materials, or in tour movies, etc. Should you fail to do so, SEG reserves all rights to take further action as SEG deems appropriate without notice to you.”
Beyoncé has never played Sphere in Las Vegas, although her representatives reportedly held talks with officials at Sphere Entertainment about a possible residency at the venue several years ago. Those discussions never materialized into bookings and Beyoncé has instead opted to play Allegiant Stadium when her Cowboy Carter tour stops in Las Vegas on July 25 and 26.
Billboard reached out to representatives for Beyoncé and tour promoter Live Nation for comment, but did not receive a response by press time.
