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Awards
Poison singer vs the Tony Awards
By CMU Editorial | Published on Thursday 11 June 2009
A representative for Bret Michaels of rock band Poison has responded somewhat angrily to a comment from a Tony Awards spokesperson about an accident that took place at last weekend’s award ceremony in New York.
Appearing at the event, the singer was hit on the head by a descending piece of set as he left the stage, in what looks like it could have been a pretty serious incident, if you watch this video. The aforementioned spokesperson was seemingly relatively dismissive about the incident and claimed that it was Michaels’ fault, as he had “missed his mark”, though, if you watch the clip, it doesn’t really look as though he had much time to get out of the way. That said, his bandmates skipped off pretty quickly, so perhaps they had been given some warning to make a quick exit.
Either way, Michaels’ legal rep Janna Elias insists that her client was not warned the the piece would descend during rehearsals, and expressed shock at the way that The Tonys had responded to the incident. She said in a statement: “After a performance by singer Bret Michaels at the Tony Awards Sunday night, he turned to exit the stage and was struck in the head by a descending half-ton stage prop, sweeping him off his feet causing contusions to his face and knocking him to the ground. Even at that point of impact, the heavy prop was still not halted and continued to descend even though Michaels remained underneath it. Witnesses state the singer moved himself out of the way just moments before the prop touched down”.
She continues: “With all due respect to everyone working the Tony Awards, somewhere down the line there was a lack of communication and the prop should have been immediately halted until Michaels was clear. Sunday morning at rehearsals, Bret was never informed that the descending set piece existed, let alone would be moving into position as he was exiting the stage. Although Bret was visibly dazed, he remained extremely calm backstage as members of Poison’s road crew brought him a towel to wipe the blood from his face. His only comment at the time was, “What the hell just hit me?” The severity of this injury is not being taken lightly as symptoms from head and neck injuries at first may seem like nothing and sometimes do not present for days. At this time, the full extent of his injuries remain to be seen until all x-rays are back”.
She added: “I find it surprising that a Tony spokesperson would brush off this incident with a comment stating that Mr Michaels missed his mark, with no mention of concern for his condition. If everyone at the Tonys were aware that Bret missed his mark, then they should have been aware enough to stop the set piece from hitting him or at least slowed it down until he cleared the stage. I feel had this incident happened to Liza Minelli, Dolly Parton or Elton John, the Tonys would have at least issued a letter of concern”.
The Tonys, by the way, are the US’s big theatre awards, just in case anyone isn’t aware of that.
