Bret Michaels sues Tonys, CBS for 2009 on stage injury

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Bret Michaels is suing the Tony Awards for a 2009 injury he suffered when a set piece descended on his head after his performance. (Video of that is below.) About ten months after that incident he had a life threatening subarachnoid brain hemorrhage, which he’s described as feeling like a gunshot to the head and like his “brain exploded.” Bret’s lawyer says they’re suing in part because producers played off the incident and blamed Bret for it, when it was actually their fault. It also sounds like the parties tried to settle and couldn’t reach an agreement on a dollar amount.

Bret Michaels filed a lawsuit Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court against the network and the Awards, stemming from his on-stage injury during a Rock of Ages-inspired performance at the 2009 Tony Awards. In the suit, Michaels claims he asked producers whether there were any instructions as to where he should stand on the stage during his performance, but was only told to “simply exit the stage from the rear.” After singing “Nothin’ But a Good Time” — one of the songs used in Broadway’s Rock of Ages — the Poison rocker was hit by a piece of stage scenery. (Michaels had to check into the hospital for X-rays and stitches after suffering a broken nose and cut lip.) Says the suit, “Michaels was never told that the scenery piece would be descending or given any warning of the existence of the dangers it presented. Quite the opposite, Michaels specifically asked for instructions regarding how to exit after his performance and was just told to walk off the rear of the stage — in what was ultimately the danger zone.”

In the suit, Michaels, who is seeking unspecified damages, also claims the producers faulted him for the mix-up, telling press that he had “missed his mark.” The suit also connects the Tonys injury with Michaels’ well-publicized subarachnoid hemorrhage, which proved to be nearly fatal for the musician. “One of the most common causes of this type of hemorrhage is head trauma — exactly like the one Michaels suffered at the hands of the Tony Awards.” CBS is not commenting on the suit; the Tonys have yet to respond to EW’s request for comment. (UPDATE: Michaels’ lawyer, Alex Weingarten, issued the following statement to press regarding the suit: “The Tony Awards dropped a piece of the stage on Bret’s head, and then instead of doing the right thing, joked about it and played it off for ratings … Bret never wanted to file a lawsuit, but the Tony Awards have left us with no choice. They must be held accountable for almost killing Bret, and that is what we are going to do.”)

[From EW.com]

I don’t blame Bret for suing over this, especially after he had a brain hemorrhage that could have easily killed him or left him permanently disabled. (From what I understand, it’s unclear what caused Michaels’ brain hemorrhage, but they’re often preceded by head injuries.) He’s doing fine now, but it was touch and go for him for a long time.

Here’s Bret on Piers Morgan earlier this month describing what he was doing when he had his hemorrhage – he was watching Busty Cops 3! He jokes about it here but I saw the rest of the interview and he went through hell both with the immediate hemorage and in the tough recovery period. At one point he thought he was saying goodbye to his daughters and that they would have to grow up without him. (Here’s a link to the transcript of that.)

Here’s video of what happened to Bret at the Tonys in 2009. It looks brutal.

Bret Michaels and his plastic fiance, Kristi Gibson, are shown on 3/19/11. They look like wax figures! Credit: Nector Marmolejos/WENN.com

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14 Responses to “Bret Michaels sues Tonys, CBS for 2009 on stage injury”

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  1. brin says:

    I don’t blame him one bit…he should sue after all he’s been through.

  2. PrettyTarheel says:

    I’m torn. I hate that we live in such a litigous society, but I also hate that large corporations do not do the right thing. It sounds like the Tonys low-balled Bret and he’s taking them to the woodshed.

  3. MSat says:

    Look at the video. Everyone else on the stage with Bret started backing up so they would be behind the flat as it was being lowered. And Bret – douchebag famewhore that he is — continues to stand there, hamming it up for the audience. No doubt this number was rehearsed a million times before the show, and Bret was told how much time he had to get behind that platform. Everyone else seemed to get that. It’s his own fault for needing those extra few seconds of limelight.

  4. TQB says:

    I remember at the time thinking that the Tony’s response to this incident was awfully cold and mean. Regardless of whether he “missed his mark,” the lack of sympathy was kind of appalling. Yah, he’s Bret Michaels, he’s kind of a joke, but he still got whacked in the face. Not cool. Not funny.

  5. phlyfiremama says:

    Regardless of how the Tonys responded, the incident happened 10 MONTHS before his hemorrhage. No way the 2 are connected. Within 10 days there is a slight possibility, but even then not likely. Brain bleeds are dangerous because unlike other parts of the body, the brain is in a tightly enclosed skull that has little to no room for swelling to occur. Something has to give when a cerebral/meingeal hemorrhage oocurs, and it is invariably the more delicate brain tissue that suffers. Brain hemorrhages don’t go on for 10 months and THAN become critical, sorry Brett. He is a known diabetic who DOES NOT aggressively manage his diabetes, which results in weakening of the entire body. He drinks lots of alcohol, and has a high profile not very healthy lifestyle. Good luck with that lawsuit.

  6. Me1st says:

    I disagree…how do they find a 70 year old man guilty of murdering the man that was in a wheelchair for 40 years and then dies, the first man is held for murder, same scenerio!!

  7. MeriJaan says:

    Makes no difference if the other band members made it out of the way in time…there should of been some kind of safety measure implemented for “just in case”. It looks like he could of been killed.

  8. original kate says:

    dear bret michaels,

    everyone knows you are balding, so you can stop wearing the bandana/hat/fake hair combos now.. pretty please? whenever i see a photo of you i feel stabby.

    regards,
    original kate

  9. TXCinderella says:

    Man, his fiancee is really fake and plastic looking. Blech!

  10. B says:

    @MSat: Ummm…the video clearly shows he wasn’t “standing there” and/or wasn’t “hamming it up.” He finished the song, raised his arms, pivoted & walked, very quickly. Perhaps you should re-visit the live footage & your bitterness & regurgitation of words. (P.S. I’m not on either side, just looking @ the facts).

  11. anne_000 says:

    regardless of where bret or anybody else stood on that stage as that big chunk of set piece came down, there should have been some kind of mechanism in place that would have been able to control & stop it at any point – instead of what seemed like a free-fall – because you cant account for everything that might be taking place under it as it came down.

    also, before the tonys’ ppl made it come down, they should have waited until it was ALL CLEAR which they obviously didnt. would the tonys’ having to wait for another few seconds – until it was all clear under there – to bring down that set piece have hurt the show? nope. and even if it did, so what? shouldnt safety be the main concern here?

    what if there was a chorus of kids under there and they all didnt get away from that spot fast enough? would the tonys then blame the kids by saying their ppl were going to bring down the set piece regardless and without stoppage or a rational decision-making process in hand and whatever kid was under there was on his or her own? just a ‘do or die’ situation going on there? it just looks like the tonys ppl werent thinking things out.

    it was a strong enough impact to break bret’s nose & cut his lips. from what i heard, it hit bret in the front of the head which made him fall backwards causing the back of his head to hit the stage floor. i think it would have been wise of cbs/the tonys to have settled this case long ago.

  12. TQB says:

    @anne_000 – excellent point about the kids. Accidents happen. Efforts should be made to prevent them, but my god, if one happens, don’t blame the person who got knocked in the head.

    I suspect that Bret was so annoyed by the jokes and being blamed for it that he probably demanded a huge sum to settle. But there you have it – the Tony’s put themselves in that position by being jerks in the first place. All those jokes are going to make them look very very bad in court. I didn’t even like the guy before this happened and even I felt terrible about it – a jury might react the same way.

  13. Trey says:

    I agree with MSat- it looks like he’s hamming it up while everybody else hightails it outta there. It looked like that months ago when I first saw it. Honestly, Bret Michaels and his bandanna-hair and cavalcade of plastic expendables amuses me; of course I know that the “hater” tag is applied to a negative opinion (whether it has merits or not). Still, I agree.

    Fact: brain hemorrhages happen for all kinds of reasons and, in some cases, the diagnosing physician(s) will never find what it’s directly related to. There is enough of a gray area in medicine for him to prove his suit in a civil court, no matter if it happened 10 months ago or not.

    Good luck to him, I’d like to see the Tonys fork over some money. I mean, they should’ve known he would’ve hammed it up. Haven’t they seen Crack Bus of Love??

  14. lucy2 says:

    It does seem like everyone else knew to get out of the way, but you’d think someone would have been paying attention and able to stop the curtain if needed.
    #5, you make a very good point about the time gap between the injury and the hemorrhage. I could see him being awarded something for medical expenses, pain suffered, lost revenue, etc, but if he’s going to try to blame this for the later brain injury, I don’t think that’s fair, and I do think his existing health and lifestyle would be taken into consideration.