Beyoncé Hit With Cease-and-Desist from James Dolan Over Sphere Footage

Photo Credit: Beyoncé by Billy Briggs / CC by 2.0

Beyoncé was sent a cease-and-desist letter from James Dolan’s lawyers over a video at her new show depicting her picking up the Las Vegas Sphere.

Madison Square Garden and Las Vegas Sphere boss James Dolan is not interested in sharing his toys. That was made clear when his lawyers hit Beyoncé’s Parkwood Entertainment with a cease-and-desist letter over a video shown at her Cowboy Carter concert. The video depicts a giant Beyoncé striding through the Las Vegas skyline before leaning over and picking up the Sphere.

According to the letter, penned by Kathleen McCarthy of King & Spalding, which represents Dolan’s Sphere Entertainment Group (SEG), Beyoncé violated the company’s intellectual property rights. This, they assert, has “resulted in significant speculation that Beyoncé will end her tour with a Sphere residency.”

“Beyoncé—many orders of magnitude larger than the Sphere venue—leans over, picks up the venue, and looms over it,” wrote McCarthy. “SEG was never asked and the prominent appearance and manipulation of SEG’s Sphere venue in the video is unauthorized.”

The superstar was given a deadline of Monday discontinue use of the imagery in her videos, “in addition to refraining from using this imagery on any merchandise, promotional or marketing materials, or in tour movies.”

Any plans Beyoncé had for a residency at the Sphere collapsed last year after it was reported the venue refused her request to shut down for two weeks of rehearsals. Her team also sought around $10 million for a high-tech production similar to that of U2’s Sphere residency, which evidently further complicated things. As a result, she was said to be exploring a potential 100-show deal with Sphere rival MGM.

Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter tour kicked off last week in Inglewood, California, with several dates at SoFi Stadium before heading to Chicago, Houston, New York, London, and more. Failure to comply, SEG said, will result in the company taking further action as they deem appropriate, “without notice.”

View the full article