I Went to a Fight and an Awards Show Broke Out

My Your people, my your people…

(via the EUR)

BAD VIBES ALL AROUND: Fight breaks out during last night’s Vibe Awards; one man stabbed.

*After last night, urban award shows may be a thing of the past – something to tell our grandkids about one day in the distant future. It’s unfortunate that a crew of knuckleheads in the audience of last night’s Vibe Awards in Santa Monica, CA have unwittingly cast a pall over future attempts to acknowledge our own. And judging from the way show publicists bent over backwards not to have us report on the melee, or ask any of the artists to comment on the situation, you probably won’t be seeing this on tonight’s telecast, which is scheduled to run from 8 to 10 p.m. on UPN.

The footage of the fight was all over the local 10 and 11 o’clock newscasts within hours of the taping. The reason for the fight, however, became a thing of rumor, conjecture, speculation, assumption and down right hearsay.

Here’s what we know for sure. Snoop Dogg and “Vibe” magazine founder Quincy Jones were on stage in the midst of presenting a special Vibe Legend Award to Dr. Dre when the fight broke out. Cameras caught fools throwing punches, kicking and hitting people with white plastic chairs.

Q, who was already on crutches, watched helplessly alongside a startled Snoop from behind the podium.

“Y’all gonna mess up my rap, man,” Quincy joked to the audience before the skirmish turned into the Fistfight at the OK Corral.

Meanwhile, in the press tent, Kevin Lyttle was at the podium being interviewed when the TV monitors – showing the telecast while muted – began beaming footage of the fight. Reporters, sensing a bigger story than anything poor Kevin Lyttle could ever say, began furiously dialing cell phones while watching the monitors in complete shock. A few journalists even started packing up, intending to get out of dodge.

Cameras abruptly switched back to Snoop and Q at the podium, just in time to see both make a swift exit – Snoop stage right, Q stage left. Suddenly, the camera swings back toward the crowd, capturing the very footage that ended up on local newscasts within hours.

A 26-year-old man was stabbed during the incident and taken to a hospital. He was listed in stable condition.

No one was arrested, but according to a Vibe official, one person “was removed from the venue.”

UPN cut off the press room feed of the auditorium, and that’s when rumors of the fight’s origin first began to sprout. Not even two minutes after the monitors went dark, a brother came running back fresh from the stage with an eyewitness account, claiming that 50 Cent and Lloyd Banks were involved.

“I seen 50 Cent come from the backstage where the performers are,” said an excitable Kevin Washington, who was at the event doing interviews for Living it Up Productions on LA’s Fox affiliate, KTLA. Washington said he saw 50 flanked by bodyguards and breathing hard.

“I didn’t know if they had came down from a performance or what, but him and a bunch of bodyguards walked over to a designated area where we couldn’t get through, because you have to have the proper wristbands and passes. Then something fell. It sounded like a pot broke, and everybody just started running around backstage. Then all of a sudden, everybody ran to the stage and a bunch of bodyguards were fighting. I’m pretty sure I seen Lloyd Banks on the monitor that was right next to me backstage. I’m not sure if it was 50, but I do know it was a bunch of bodyguards on stage, and I seen Lloyd Banks up there throwing blows. Then I ran out because somebody yelled mase, and a lot of security started running. I didn’t want to get hit with no mase, so I ran off the stage.”

Meanwhile, witness Frank Williams was telling KCAL-TV that Dr. Dre was involved in the brawl.

“I saw Dr. Dre fighting somebody,” Williams said. “I don’t know if he was fighting back. But there was a guy taken out basically bloodied.”

In the press room, a shift had occurred in everyone’s order of business. Reporters were as determined to get to the bottom of this fight as the show’s publicists were in keeping it from us.

For example, Common was the first artist to enter the press area following the melee. When EUR’s Lee Bailey tried to ask him what happened, two publicists immediately barked, “No questions about that! Just about the show!”

“Well this IS about the show,” Bailey snapped. One of the publicists took the microphone from him and headed toward someone else with a more benign question about Common’s new album.

Then, veteran entertainment journalist Ron Brewington shouted, “Censorship! To take the mic away from him is censorship! Don’t do that!”

Common diffused the situation, stating: “I can’t talk about something I don’t know about, really. So that’s what it is, sir. We’re gonna leave the drama behind, ya dig?”

Soon, Suge Knight’s name was tossed into the rumor mill. Folks were saying that “his people” had sucker-punched Dr. Dre right before he was to take the stage and accept his award, prompting G-Unit to jump in and get Dre’s back.

To appease the journalists, UPN sent back the president of “Vibe,” Kenard Gibbs, to give a statement about the disruption.

“There was a disturbance within the venue,” he said. “Nothing major, but it very quickly erupted into various people moving. We were able to contain the individual who was responsible for causing this disruption, we had him removed from the venue. We did go blank on the monitors until we got things under control.”

After a half-hour delay, the show started up again, picking up with Snoop and Quincy back at the podium – AS IF NOTHING HAPPENED. Dre took the stage and accepted his award, seeming very disgruntled and agitated while reading a prepared “thank you” speech.

By this point, Alicia Keys had left the building, probably fearing for her life, and TV reporters were scrambling to interview anyone coming into the press tent who claimed to have witnessed anything.

In presenting Keys with the final award of the night, presenter Rosario Dawson was forced to say, “Unfortunately, Alicia Keys had to leave early, so I’d like to accept this award on her behalf.”

The taping had been over for about 10 minutes when Suge Knight and his new artist Petey Pablo just sauntered into the press tent, unannounced. They had driven to the venue themselves during a break from recording. The press tent suddenly became the setting for a new Fox reality show, “When Reporters Attack.”

In the blink of an eye, news cameras, boom mikes and reporters with notepads had surrounded the two. While Suge toked on a cigar, and the publicists tried desperately to get the mogul and the rapper away from us, Pablo just started talking:

“Don’t blame my homeboy, you understand what I’m saying? We on a new thing, we on non-violence this year and forever more. All the media might portray him as a monster, but this is the coolest dude I ever met in my life. Don’t blame my homeboy.”

Ultimately, the publicists succeeded in their quest to kick us all out of the tent. The interview scrum, including Suge and Petey, simply moved into the parking lot, where reporters continued firing questions in the cool night air.

Surrounded by a semi-circle of Santa Monica policemen, and some in a police helicopter overhead, Suge said that he had absolutely nothing to do with the fight.

“When I do something wrong, blame me for it,” he said. “One thing about me, if I do something, I’m gonna claim it no matter what it is. I’m not the type of guy that’s just gonna wanna start stuff. I’m not an idiot. I’m in the music business. I feel that Death Row is the label that really made gangsta rap popular to be able to move forward for everyone. So I’m not here to tear down, I’m here to support and build it back up. And it’s an honor for me to even see guys that used to be on my label getting an award or performing, because that means I did my job by teaching them how to do it.”

Suge was calm, pleasant and jovial with reporters, answering every question asked, and even stating how great it is that Dre is being honored – by Quincy Jones, no less. His parting words before jetting back to the recording studio with Petey: “I’m on parole! Leave me alone!”

Now while we were out covering the fight, a Vibe Awards show suddenly broke out. Here are the winners:

Artist of the Year: Alicia Keys

Best Group: G Unit

Sexiest Video Vixen: Ki Toy (“The Way You Move,” OutKast)

Reelest Vide “99 Problems,” Jay-Z

Best Comeback: Twista

Hottest Hook: Lean Back,” Terror Squad

Street Anthem: “Rubberband Man,” T.I.

Power Broker of the Year: Steve Stoute

Coolest Collab “Why (Remix),” Jadakiss, featuring Anthony Hamilton, Styles P., Common and Nas

Next Award: Anthony Hamilton

R&B Voice of the Year: Usher

Best R&B Song: “If I Ain’t Got You,” Alicia Keys

Club Banger of the Year: “Lean Back,” Terror Squad

Boomshot Award: “Turn Me On (Remix),” Kevin Lyttle, featuring Spragga Benz