Saturday, March 26, 2011
Bret Michaels Files Lawsuit Against CBS and Tony Awards
Playbill.com: "Bret Michaels, who performed with the cast of the Tony-nominated Best Musical Rock of Ages at the 2009 Tony Awards and suffered an injury when a set piece descended on him following his performance, has filed a lawsuit against CBS and the organizers of the Tony Awards, according to the Associated Press.
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11 comments:
When I saw that this article was about Bret Michaels, I was slightly curious as to what drama was encirlcing him now. Now I find it hard to believe that he was never informed as to the scenery piece that was flying in, but it is possible. And I do remember seeing in the news about when he was hospitalized for the brain bleeding last year. If this was a result of the scenery piece that came down on his headm then that is really unfortunate, as is anytime that someone gets hurt by a piece of scenery. However, the lawsuit undermines itself I think when they actually have in writing 'Through his sheer will to live, to see his children grow up, Michaels was able to survive this trauma'. That just makes it seem so much more overdramatic and woe is me, it makes it look like he is looking for waves of sympathy. Which if he wants to file the lawsuit fine, but it makes him seem like an attention grabbing has been, but oh wait how many seasons of 'Rock of Love' were there?
AHHHH HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAH HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAH HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAH HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAH HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAH HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAH
I hate to say it, especially because of the sort of pleading that Michaels' lawyers seem to be doing with phrases like "through his sheer will to live," i'd probably be suing too if a piece of a set fell on my head. The 2009 Tony Awards were unfortunately riddled with technical errors (there were constant mic mishaps, including one where backstage crew voices were projected into the theatre during a number while simultaneously a stagehand ran onstage to give the soloist a hand-mic mid number) and various unions were brought in to figure out how to tidy up future ceremonies. it's sad that miscommunications like this can lead to such serious injury, but i don't think the problem is being approached in the right way, since I personally haven't seen the Tonys run much more smoothly since then
Oh man, I remember watching this happen on the Tony Awards two years ago. Thank god it was TiVo'd so I could watch it over and over again. I understand why Bred Michaels would be suing, but it seems to me that if it was rehearsed and he knew that the piece was coming in, does that make it the crew's fault? With so many things happening at once, it seems that this sort of injury is inevitable.
This makes me realize how important it is to write down notes. If you are sued for not telling someone that something is going to happen you better have some evidence that says that you did. This probably should have been in some report somewhere; also it seems odd that Bret Michaels wouldn’t have been alerted. It is amazing that failing to communicate where set pieces are going could cause severer injuries and someone being sued. This is horrible and even though I am not a huge fan of Bret Michaels I do think it is totally justified that he is suing.In fact no one did tell him then that is a horrible and sad oversight and if he was alerted then he is just stupid. But maybe the drop just came in too fast, all in all someone really screwed up!
This seems ridiculous on the part of Bret Michaels. the man is on film at a dress rehearsal the day before in which the scene piece was flown in. I wonder if this is an attempt to save face, or what on his part. To me this litigation seems unwarranted, and honestly a little dumb. it is however scary to think that something like this could happen from such an innocuous source. but it does serve as a reminder of how dangerous thins in theater really can be.
Ok, when I first read this I though, Bret Michaels is a _______. (not sure I should say douche on this blog) He deserved if for showboating at the end of his number. Ha ha ha. I read it again and I have now had a change of heart. Despite whose fault it was. Bret Michaels was injured while preforming. There should be some sort of workmens comp for that. Some stagehand also made a mistake. I do not think there is a piece of scenery that once is motion cannot be stopped. Brett missed his mark and someone missed the E-Stop. The article also said that he has tried to resolve this out of court and I believe that. Despite the circumstances, when you hit someone in the face with flying scenery and send them to the hospital you should make it right. That is why every theatre in the country pays for liability insurance. You should make it right even it that person you hit in the face is Bret Micahaels. Bret truly learned that, "Every Rose Has It's Thorn."
I'm also wondering how it could have been at all possible for him to not know that the set-piece was coming. Isn't that what rehearsals are for? I know when I watched the clip, it seemed like he wanted to take his last little moment to shine, and in doing so, lost track of where the set piece was coming from/the fact that it was coming at all. I totally agree with Zoe's point about the importance of notes. I hope that the stage managers and anyone else who could be held responsible for this have good documentation of the actions that were taken to notify Bret of this set change, as well as notes about the change being rehearsed. I also agree with Sonia about the fact that his lawsuit is dramatic. I find it so dramatic that it seems insincere. It is unfortunate that this happened, though, and I hope that the issue is resolved. As Dale said, this should be made right, even if it was an accident.
Though an injury is a terrible thing to have happen during a show, I do not think that Michael's is solely innocent in his claim. Not only are his laywers buttering this up ("His will to live"?!), but this is two years after the incident.
I cannot imagine that this piece was flown-in for the very first time during the performance. It must have been flown in during a dress rehearsal. If for some reason it was flown-in for the first time during the performance, somebody somewhere must have at least mentioned to Michaels that there was a piece coming in. I just find it very, very hard to believe that he had no knowledge of this. He did come to rehearsal, right?
So basically, they are saying that there was never a rehearsal... with moving scenery? I find that hard to believe. And I bet, if they told him during rehearsal, he would have been insulted. It was an accident, it happens. Yes, it could have been avoided. They do not need to pay for almost killing Bret Michaels, that is a melodramatic over exaggeration. However, they should cover expenses like any kind of workers comp, unless there is something in the contract that says they don't have to. The answer is in his contract. I don't believe he was performing on stage without a contract. Problem solved, everyone calm down.
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