Beyoncé handled a recent legal jab with the kind of flawless pettiness only she can deliver. After receiving a cease and desist letter from James Dolan, owner of the Las Vegas Sphere, the superstar made a slick change to her Cowboy Carter tour visuals, and fans were living for it.
The issue? Beyoncé used an animated version of the Sphere in one of her interludes, where she’s shown picking up the venue and looming over it. “Beyoncé — many orders of magnitude larger than the Sphere venue — leans over, picks up the venue, and looms over it,” wrote attorney Kathleen McCarthy in a statement obtained by The Blast. McCarthy added that the scene sparked “significant speculation” of a possible residency, which isn’t happening. Dolan’s legal team claimed the use of the Sphere was unauthorized and demanded the imagery be removed.
So Beyoncé did, but not without a little shade. On May 4th, during the third night of her tour, the video stayed in the show, but instead of lifting the Sphere, she now grabs Allegiant Stadium, where she’s scheduled to perform on July 25 and 26. Parkwood Entertainment also posted the updated version to Instagram with the caption: “What happens in Vegas starts with a BANG.”
The internet wasted no time reacting. “Those petty ones can’t f-ck with me,” one fan quoted from her track YA YA. Another wrote, “Bey really said, ‘You want petty?’ Here’s petty.” And someone else simply added, “PARKWOOD IS UNDEFEATED! TAKE THAT SPHERE.”
The New York Post first broke the story on May 2nd, reporting that the Sphere was never asked for permission to be featured. But with Allegiant now in the spotlight, Beyoncé made sure the show went on, on her terms.
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