Beyonce has removed the alleged reference to the Sphere in Las Vegas from her Cowboy Carter tour visuals. Fans noticed the move during her show at at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California over the weekend. She dropped the visual after Sphere Entertainment Group sent her a cease-and-desist letter.
“Beyoncé — many orders of magnitude larger than the Sphere venue — leans over, picks up the venue, and looms over it,” Kathleen McCarthy, a lawyer representing SEG CEO James Dolan, says of the visual in a statement obtained by The New York Post.
The letter continues: "It has recently come to SEG's attention that a Cowboy Carter tour interlude video contains the unauthorized use of SEG's intellectual property. 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."
Additionally, Billboard reports that Dolan tried to negotiate for Beyonce to perform at the Sphere, but a deal never came to fruition. Instead, the legendary singer will be performing at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on July 25 and 26.
"Cowboy Carter" Tour Dates
Beyonce kicked off the Cowboy Carter tour at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, last month. She'll be performing two more shows there before moving on to Chicago's Soldier Field on May 15th. From there, the singer has concerts lined up across North America and Europe for the rest of the tour. The Allegiant Stadium dates are her final shows on the Cowboy Carter tour.
Beyonce made headlines at one of the SoFi Stadium shows by performing "PROTECTOR" for her daughter, Rumi, who was in attendance. Viral videos from the event showed Rumi adorably copying her mother's dance moves during the song.
