bretmichaels.comBret Michaels wants action—or at least a hug.
The Poison frontman took to his website to post photos of his busted-up mug along with a statement ripping Tony Awards organizers in the wake of his literally smashing performance at the weekend ceremony.
Michaels took a prop upside the head while performing in the opening number with the Rock of Ages cast. He wound up with a fractured nose and stiches in his lip—not to mention the butt of a joke from host Neil Patrick Harris, who quipped that Michaels "gave headbanging new meaning." A spokesman for the show seemed to blame the mishap on the rocker, saying Michaels "missed his mark."
And Team Bret has had enough.
"First, I thought, 'what mark?' as there was no official mark, just a retracting drum riser and an overhead prop being rapidly lowered which was out of my view," Michaels writes.
"Brett has performed live, with Poison or solo, for over 20 years and on a daily basis is around pyro, lasers and a moving light show. He understands that there is always an element of risk in any live performance, but Bret entrusts his safety to the crew whose job it is to make sure the show goes off without a hitch," the publicist continues.
Elias adds: "[But] in this situation Bret was not on his stage but was at the mercy of the Tonys. He was performing on the Tonys stage and had the reasonable expectation that that safety of the artist was a priority and at no time did he do anything over the top or outlandish that would have put himself or others in a dangerous situation."
Another rep, Bob Wallerstein, says that instead of going to Tony afterparties, Michaels spent his postshow time being treated by medical personnel backstage (not doing shots backstage, as Harris quipped.)
Michaels' camp stressed that the situation was no laughing matter, cautioning that "the full extent of his injuries remains to be seen until all the X-rays are back."
Despite what happened, Michaels said he was doing his best to look on the bright side.
"I am trying to remain very positive and somewhat humorous about the whole situation," the rocker says. "I apologize that I did not make a statement earlier as I have been feeling pretty beat up over the last few days. The fact is I was honored to be asked to perform at the event. The entire Rock of Ages production were awesome and even though I was completely out of my element I was really enjoying myself prior to my injury. In fact all involved at the awards show treated me good."
For good measure, Michaels had a wisecrack of his own despite remarking that it was "painful to experience" and that he wasn't holding any grudges.
"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," he said.
"Over the last few days a lot of speculation as to what happened and who is to blame have surfaced. I need to make clear at no point since the incident occurred do I feel like the accident was malicious in any way and I feel this will all work itself out."