Beyoncé got hit with a cease-and-desist letter from the owners of the Las Vegas Sphere after she used computer-generated imagery of it as a visual backdrop during her Cowboy Carter tour.
Earlier this week, Billboard reported that Sphere Entertainment Group demanded Bey stop using footage that shows a gigantic version of herself wandering through Las Vegas, picking up the newly opened venue, and walking off with it. The letter claimed the singer’s production company, Parkwood Entertainment, included the Sphere in the visuals without getting the green light.
“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 stated. “Beyoncé — many orders of magnitude larger than the Sphere venue — leans over, picks up the venue, and looms over it […] significant speculation that Beyoncé will end her tour with a Sphere residency.”
The letter went on: “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.”
Billboard also revealed that James Dolan, the CEO of Sphere Entertainment and Madison Square Garden Entertainment Group, had previously tried to work out a deal for Beyoncé to perform at the Sphere. Despite this, Beyoncé will be taking over Allegiant Stadium for her Cowboy Carter tour stops. So far, Beyoncé hasn’t responded to the letter.
Beyoncé launched her latest tour earlier this week at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, kicking off the first of four shows there. Her tour schedule includes major cities like Chicago, New Jersey, London, Paris, Houston, Atlanta, and more before wrapping up in Sin City on July 25-26.
