Beyoncé receives cease-and-desist for holding Las Vegas Sphere in ‘Cowboy Carter’ tour footage

Beyoncé has received a cease-and-desist letter from the owner of the Las Vegas Sphere over footage from her ‘Cowboy Carter’ tour.

• READ MORE: Beyoncé – ‘Cowboy Carter’ review: country reinvention strikes gold

The futuristic venue opened in 2023 and has since hosted residencies from the likes of U2, Phish and The Eagles. It was also recently confirmed that a new Sphere venue will be constructed in Abu Dhabi.

Now, the owner is reportedly unhappy with a depiction of the venue included in Beyoncé’s ongoing ‘Cowboy Carter’ tour, which kicked off on Monday (April 28), and has sent the singer a cease-and-desist letter.

The footage in question appears during an interlude at the concert, and sees a giant version of Beyoncé – donning a red cowboy hat and matching leather cape – marching through Las Vegas in slow motion. She then arrives at the Sphere and bends down to pick it up, before looking at it inquisitively and tapping it. Afterwards, she walks away with the miniature venue in her hands.

Per Billboard, the letter, reportedly addressed to Beyoncé’s production company Parkwood Entertainment on behalf of Sphere Entertainment Group, asks that she stop using the footage, which they say is used “without permission” and is misleading to 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.

ngl i think this was her making fun of the idea that she was gonna do a sphere residency… because she’s LITERALLY (and figuratively) so much bigger than the sphere that it wouldn’t hold an audience of her size https://t.co/SZGONHOkTs

— SEEN BY BEYONCÉ! (@aliensgroove) May 1, 2025

Beyoncé never gave a fk watch how quickly she removes or edits this because the owner of the sphere wants to be whinning about her using it and also probably burning a bridge with her in the long run so she’s probably never doing that residency . pic.twitter.com/PIz0kNssxX

— Kirstyn (@Kirstynlynne) May 3, 2025

“Beyoncé — many orders of magnitude larger than the Sphere venue — leans over, picks up the venue, and looms over it,” the letter reads, leading to “significant speculation that Beyoncé will end her tour with a Sphere residency.”

It continues: “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.”

A source reportedly also told Billboard that James Dolan, CEO of Sphere Entertainment and Madison Square Garden Entertainment Group, tried to negotiate for the singer to perform at the Las Vegas venue in the past. Beyoncé will instead perform at Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium on July 25 and 26 this summer.

Beyoncé and her team are yet to respond to the letter.

The ‘Cowboy Carter’ tour kicked off at the SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. Clocking in at nearly three hours, Bey performed 36 songs celebrating her most recent album of the same name, which dropped last year in March – you can check out the full setlist and footage here.

So far, the tour has seen her bring her rarely-seen daughter Rumi onstage and play a Death Grips interlude, much to the surprise of fans.

Beyoncé will continue to take her record-breaking ‘Cowboy Carter’ tour throughout the US, Europe and the UK including a residency at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in June. Get US and UK and European tickets here and here and see all of Bey’s future dates down below:

Beyonce’s 2025 ‘Cowboy Carter’ US and UK and European tour is:

MAY 2025
1 – SoFi Stadium – Los Angeles, CA
4 – SoFi Stadium – Los Angeles, CA
7 – SoFi Stadium – Los Angeles, CA
9 – SoFi Stadium – Los Angeles, CA
15 – Soldier Field – Chicago, IL
17 – Soldier Field – Chicago, IL
18 – Soldier Field – Chicago, IL
22 – MetLife Stadium – East Rutherford, NJ
24 – MetLife Stadium – East Rutherford, NJ
25 – MetLife Stadium – East Rutherford, NJ
28 – MetLife Stadium – East Rutherford, NJ
29 – MetLife Stadium – East Rutherford, NJ

JUNE 2025
5 – Tottenham Hotspur Stadium – London, UK
7 – Tottenham Hotspur Stadium – London, UK
10 – Tottenham Hotspur Stadium – London, UK
12 – Tottenham Hotspur Stadium – London, UK
14 – Tottenham Hotspur Stadium – London, UK
16 – Tottenham Hotspur Stadium – London, UK
19 – Stade de France – Paris, France
21 – Stade de France – Paris, France
22 – Stade de France – Paris, France
28 – NRG Stadium – Houston, TX
29 – NRG Stadium – Houston, TX

JULY 2025
4 – Northwest Stadium – Washington, D.C.
7 – Northwest Stadium – Washington, D.C.
10 – Mercedes-Benz Stadium – Atlanta, GA
11 – Mercedes-Benz Stadium – Atlanta, GA
13 – Mercedes-Benz Stadium – Atlanta, GA
14 – Mercedes-Benz Stadium – Atlanta, GA
25 – Allegiant Stadium – Las Vegas, NV
26 – Allegiant Stadium – Las Vegas, NV

When ‘Cowboy Carter’ first dropped last year, NME gave it five stars, writing: “It’s an undeniable thrill to see her swing so big on a project that dares her to be so intimate and vocal-focused, while making way for country’s up-and-comers too.”

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