Live Nation employee mocks customers as 'so stupid' in internal messages released in court case
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Newly revealed incendiary messages in which a Live Nation employee mocks customers as “so stupid” and says the company is “robbing them blind, baby” are gaining public attention during an ongoing antitrust trial
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Live Nation employee mocks customers as 'so stupid' in internal messages released in court case Newly revealed incendiary messages in which a Live Nation employee mocks customers as “so stupid” and says the company is “robbing them blind, baby” are gaining public attention during an ongoing antitrust trial By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press March 12, 2026, 5:25 PM NEW YORK -- Incendiary internal messages in which a Live Nation employee mocks customers as “so stupid” and says the company is “robbing them blind, baby” have been made public as over two dozen states weigh whether to continue their antitrust trial against the entertainment giant and its subsidiary Ticketmaster. The messages from late 2021 through early 2023 on the online work messaging platform Slack were highlighted late Wednesday in a filing by government lawyers released in the public court record. The lawyers insist the messages should be evidence in the week-old trial in Manhattan federal court against Live Nation and Ticketmaster. At the trial, lawyers for the federal government and 39 states and the District of Columbia say Live Nation and Ticketmaster were squelching competition and driving up prices for fans through threats, retaliation and other tactics to “suffocate the competition” by controlling virtually every aspect of the industry, from concert promotion to ticketing. The companies insist that artists, sports teams and venues set prices and decide how tickets are sold. The government lawyers wrote that the statements should be part of the trial because they are “candid, internal messages" in which Ben Baker “calls fans ‘so stupid,’ explains that he ‘gouge ’ them, and brags that Live Nation is ‘robbing them blind, baby.’" In the submission to Judge Arun Subramanian, the lawyers noted that Baker made the statements while he was a regional director of ticketing with responsibility for a large amphitheater in Florida but has since been promoted to head of ticketing for Venue Nation with res...
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