Bret Michaels Calls Tony Statements “Irresponsible”
Poison’s Bret Michaels has finally released an official statement following his accident at Sunday’s Tony Awards, where he slammed his head on a stage prop during a performance of “Nothin’ But a Good Time” with the cast of Rock of Ages. “In hindsight, there is no doubt I got my bell rung, unfortunately it has been posted and perhaps funny to watch, but I can assure you it has been painful to experience,” Michaels writes on his MySpace blog. Reiterating his reps’ statement, Michaels said he wasn’t told about the moving set piece at his morning rehearsal, or that he had limited time to clear the stage “Otherwise believe me I would have stopped or at least ducked so as not to be knocked out at the Tonys.” Michaels suffered a fractured nose and busted lip from the collision.
Immediately following impact, “My nose, mouth and the back of my head felt numb,” Michaels writes. “I vaguely remember asking [bodyguard] Big John, ‘do I have any teeth left in my mouth?’ … Somebody handed me a towel to wipe the blood from my face and in my dazed state I recall staring at what seemed to be Shrek, a talking goat head and several monkey like creatures.” Michaels later thanks Liza Minnelli and Ugly Betty star Mark Indelicato for checking on his condition in the dressing room.
Michaels writes that he doesn’t believe the accident was “malicious,” but found the Tonys’ public statements that he was uninjured and merely “missed his mark” were “irresponsible.” “First, I thought, ‘what mark?’ as there was no official mark,” Bret writes. “No matter what the situation was the prop should have been stopped or at least slowed for a few more seconds until I cleared the stage … For God sake, they have at least a five second delay to prevent the airing of unapproved expletives and nudity!”
Michaels’ biggest regret — besides missing the remainder of the Tonys and the rest of the performances, admitting he’d never been to a Broadway show in his life — was skipping the afterparties, “Cuz rumor has it Anne Hathaway was going to be there and she is hot.” He concludes, “I thank the Good Lord I have a thick skull and I have a feeling this may have been my first and final curtain call at the Tonys,” signing off as “Broadway Bret Michaels.”
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