Embattled pop queen Madonna has apparently been busted posting fake traffic signs outside of her $40 million Manhattan apartment in order to hoard valuable New York City parking spaces.
According to the Daily Mail, the singer’s entourage posted fake “No Parking” signs on the security gate outside her Upper East Side apartment, along with a “Tenant Parking Only” sign planted in a nearby flower box.
The singer or her representatives also had the words “No Parking” embossed onto the actual sidewalk, and had the edge of the sidewalk — comprising what looks to be at least four cars’ worth of parking spaces — painted yellow.
“At first we thought it made sense as often you see middle age fans trying to catch a glimpse of her, so it looked like she had a permit to have them so she could come and go without being annoyed,” an irate neighbor told the Daily Mail. “We’re now troubled that they could be fake as this just seems so entitled.”
The signs aren’t the only thing bothering Madonna’s neighbors; one noted that “when she leaves, one of her staff literally walks into the street and stops cars and pedestrians from passing.”
“It’s really quite obnoxious and we all joke that she is playing ‘B—ch I’m Madonna’ as her chauffeured car drives her by all of us minions waiting on the street for her to pass,” the neighbor added.
According to TMZ, a representative from the New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) visited the singer’s apartment Wednesday and ordered her assistants to immediately remove the signs.
The latest setback for the singer comes on the heels of her wildly erratic concert performances during the recent Australian leg of her Rebel Heart tour. During a stop in Melbourne earlier this month, the 57-year-old singer sipped from a bottle of tequila, appeared to fall off a tricycle, dedicated a song to her 15-year-old son Rocco (over whom she is locked in an international custody battle with ex Guy Ritchie) and pleaded with the audience to “take care” of her.
At her Brisbane tour stop, the singer pulled a female fan’s top down, exposing her breast.
On Wednesday, Billboard reported that Madonna’s 82-date Rebel Heart tour pulled in $169.8 million and sold more than one million tickets. The new figure brings Madge’s tour earnings since 1990 to $1.31 billion, good enough to make her the top-grossing solo touring artist of all time. Bruce Springsteen is next on the list with $1.25 billion in tour earnings over the same period.