Beyoncé Replaces Sphere With Allegiant Stadium in Cowboy Carter Tour Visuals After Cease-and-Desist

After receiving a cease-and-desist from the owner of Las Vegas’ Sphere, Beyoncé has replaced the venue with another Nevada landmark in her Cowboy Carter Tour visuals. 

Days after Billboard confirmed that Sphere Entertainment Co. CEO James Dolan’s attorneys had sent a letter to the superstar’s Parkwood Entertainment demanding that Bey remove a reference to the Sphere in a video that plays during one of her show’s interludes, fans at the tour’s third night in Los Angeles Sunday (May 4) were the first to see that she had done just that. In lieu of a ginormous Bey bending down to pick up the iconic spherical concert space — as was depicted in the original visual dubbed “Attack of the 400 Foot Cowboy” — she now reaches for Allegiant Stadium, seemingly edited overtop of where the Sphere was initially. 

The following morning, Parkwood posted the updated footage on Instagram, writing, “What happens in Vegas starts with a BANG.” 

“Bey really said ‘you want petty? here’s petty,’” one fan commented on the post. 

Another person wrote with a cry-laugh emoji, “Oh the shade.” 

Sunday’s show came two nights after the New York Post first reported that Dolan’s company had sent Bey’s team the cease-and-desist, alleging that “the prominent appearance and manipulation of SEG’s Sphere™ venue in the video [had been] unauthorized.” In addition to accusing the 35-time Grammy winner of showcasing the Sphere without permission, the letter also reportedly criticized the visual for supposedly misleading fans by creating “significant speculation that Beyoncé will end her tour with a Sphere residency,” despite the fact that the Cowboy Carter trek is actually scheduled to end with two shows at Allegiant in July. 

Billboard previously reached out to reps for Beyoncé and tour promoter Live Nation, but did not hear back.

Prior to the change, the Sphere had been just one of several global landmarks included in the visual. Featuring Bey modeling several glamorous looks and towering over various cities worldwide, the “Texas Hold ‘Em” singer also interacted with the Statue of Liberty in New York City, the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., in the interlude. 

Following two more nights at SoFi Stadium in L.A. this week, Bey is set to bring the tour supporting Billboard 200-topping album Cowboy Carter to Chicago and East Rutherford, N.J., before heading overseas for performances in London and Paris. In late June, she’ll circle back to the states for shows in Texas, Maryland and Georgia before closing out with her Nevada performances. 

See Bey’s updated, Sphere-less tour visual below.