Oasis fans have claimed Ticketmaster has cancelled their tickets for the band’s reunion tour, accusing them of being bots.
After Liamand Noel Gallagher announced a limited run of stadium shows last summer, thousands of fans logged on to Ticketmaster in hopes of seeing the band play live for the first time since 2009.
Several fans have now said that they received emails from Ticketmaster which claimed the use of bots was identified in their ticket purchases and cancelled them as a result.
Leighah Conroy, 24, had bought four tickets to see Oasis perform at Heaton Park in Manchester on 28 August last year – but was told on Friday that Ticketmaster “identified that bots were used to make this purchase”.
Image: TicketMaster came under criticism for the use of dynamic pricing for the reunion tour. Pic: PA
She told the PA news agency: “To say that we’re bots is totally out of order for Ticketmaster because we tried all day to get the tickets.
“Our heads have been pretty battered these past 24 hours. I felt sick in the stomach. It’s a band you’ll never experience or see again and it’s been on my bucket list for years.
“It just feels like my dreams have been completely crushed.”
Ms Conroy, from Cumbria, paid around £150 per ticket, and also spent £800 on a hotel and a further £40 for travel to the show.
Marta Bonnet, 48, from Spain, also said she received the same email on Friday. She said she spent more than £3,000 on tickets, flights and accommodation for herself, her husband and her children to see Oasis at Wembley Stadium on 3 August.
“At first we thought this email was fake or a spam email, but no it was true,” she added.
“We usually use Ticketmaster to buy our tickets… But now, how can I trust this page which is supposed to be the official page?
“I really can’t believe what has happened.”
A spokesperson for Ticketmaster said: “Anyone who has been contacted and believes a refund was made in error has been sent a form to fill in for the tour’s promoters to review.”
The Competition and Markets Authority said in September that it had launched an investigation into Ticketmaster’s Oasis gigs sale – calling for evidence from fans.
In November last year, Ticketmaster and See Tickets warned that thousands of tickets that were listed on unauthorised sites would start to be cancelled.
Oasis will begin their reunion tour on 4 July in Cardiff before playing another 16 dates in the UK and Ireland.
The tour then moves to Canada, the US, Mexico, and Australia.
An ex-model has tearfully told a court that being sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein when she was 16 was the most “horrifying thing I ever experienced” to that point.
Warning: This article contains references to sexual assault
Kaja Sokola told the film producer’s retrial that he ordered her to remove her blouse, put his hand in her underwear, and made her touch his genitals.
She said he’d stared at her in the mirror with “black and scary” eyes and told her to stay quiet about the alleged assault in a Manhattan hotel in 2002.
Ms Sokola told the New York court that Weinstein had dropped names such as Penelope Cruz and Gwyneth Paltrow, and said he could help fulfil her Hollywood dream.
“I’d never been in a situation like this,” said Polish-born Ms Sokola. “I felt stupid and ashamed and like it’s my fault for putting myself in this position.”
Weinstein denies sexually assaulting anyone and is back in court for a retrial after his conviction was overturned last year.
Image: Weinstein denies the allegations. Pic: Reuters
The 73-year-old is not charged over the alleged sexual assault because it happened too long ago to bring criminal charges.
However, he is facing charges over an incident four years later when he’s said to have forced Ms Sokola to perform oral sex on him.
Prosecutors claim it happened after Weinstein arranged for her to be an extra in a film.
“My soul was removed from me,” she told the court of the alleged 2006 assault, describing how she tried to push Weinstein away but that he held her down.
Ms Sokola – who’s waived her right to anonymity – is the second of three women to testify and the only one who wasn’t part of the first trial in 2020.
Image: Miriam Haley testified previously in the retrial. Pic: AP
Miriam Haley last week told the court that Weinstein forced oral sex on her in 2006. The other accuser, Jessica Mann, is yet to appear.
Claims against the film mogul were a major driver for the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment and abuse in 2017.
Weinstein’s lawyers allege the women consented to sexual activity in the hope of getting film and TV work and that they stayed in contact with him for a while afterwards.
An antiques expert from the TV show Bargain Hunt has been charged by police following an investigation into terrorist financing.
Oghenochuko ‘Ochuko’ Ojiri, 53, is accused of eight counts of “failing to make a disclosure during the course of business within the regulated sector”, the Met Police said.
The force said he was the first person to be charged with that specific offence under the Terrorism Act 2000.
Mr Ojiri, from west London, is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday.
It comes “following an investigation into terrorist financing” and relates to the period from October 2020 to December 2021, a police spokesperson said.
They added that the probe had been carried out in partnership with Treasury officials, HMRC and the Met’s Arts & Antiques Unit.
Mr Ojiri, who police described as an “art dealer”, has been on Bargain Hunt since 2019.
He has also appeared on the BBC‘s Antiques Road Trip programme.
In a statement, the BBC said: “It would not be appropriate to comment on ongoing legal proceedings.”
A man has been charged after allegedly harassing Hollywood actress Jennifer Aniston for two years before crashing his car through the front gate of her home, prosecutors have said.
Jimmy Wayne Carwyle, of New Albany, Mississippi, is accused of having repeatedly sent the Friends star unwanted voicemail, email and social media messages since 2023.
The 48-year-old is then alleged to have crashed his grey Chrysler PT Cruiser through the front gate of Aniston’s home in the wealthy Bel Air neighbourhood of Los Angeles early on Monday afternoon.
Prosecutors said the collision caused major damage.
Police have said Aniston was at home at the time.
A security guard stopped Carwyle on her driveway before police arrived and arrested him.
There were no reports of anyone being injured.
More from Ents & Arts
Carwyle has been charged with felony stalking and vandalism, prosecutors said on Thursday.
He also faces an aggravating circumstance of the threat of great bodily harm, Los Angeles County district attorney Nathan Hochman said.
Carwyle, who has been held in jail since his arrest on Monday, is set to appear in court on Thursday.
His bail has been set at $150,000 dollars (£112,742).
He is facing up to three years in prison if he is convicted as charged.
“My office is committed to aggressively prosecuting those who stalk and terrorise others, ensuring they are held accountable,” Mr Hochman said in a statement.
Aniston bought her mid-century mansion in Bel Air on a 3.4-acre site for about 21 million dollars (£15.78m) in 2012, according to reporting by Architectural Digest.
She became one of the biggest stars on television in her 10 years on NBC’s Friends.
Aniston won an Emmy Award for best lead actress in a comedy for the role, and she has been nominated for nine more.
She has appeared in several Hollywood films and currently stars in The Morning Show on Apple TV+.