By RYAN NAKASHIMA, Associated Press WriterMon Sep 10, 12:30 AM ET
Not only rappers fight at award shows: Kid Rock and Tommy Lee tussled in the audience at the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday night.
MTV VJ Sway said during the post-show that he saw Kid Rock walk up to the Motley Crue drummer, who was sitting next to Diddy, and "deck him." The incident was confirmed by Palms Hotel and Casino public relations representative Larry Fink.
Both Lee and Kid Rock are ex-husbands of Pamela Anderson, who was a presenter at the show and delivered her lines from atop a table in the audience. Although it wasn't clear whether the two rockers were fighting over something related to Anderson, it was hard to imagine another scenario.
Another eyewitness, rap producer Rich Nice, said although Kid Rock threw the only blows that landed ??? a backhand slap and a punch ??? Tommy Lee was the instigator.
"It looked like Tommy Lee initiated it because Kid Rock was ignoring him," said Nice, who was two tables away. "And Tommy Lee kind of antagonized him. And then when Tommy Lee stood up, it looked a little weird, like 'Yo, what?'"
"When Tommy stands up is when Kid hit him the first time with a backhand," Nice continued. "And then Tommy Lee looked like he was trying to get at him to aggressively retaliate and then Kid Rock hits Tommy Lee again ??? bong. And then security grabs Tommy Lee in a headlock and pulls him off."
It's notable that security guards let Kid Rock stay for the rest of the show while Lee was dragged out.
The incident inspired plenty of mock rebukes from the hip-hoppers in attendance.
"They say it's only rappers," said Sway. "I told you rockers fight too."
Diddy noted: "It's not just the hip-hop artists that sometimes have a problem."
Jamie Foxx took it still further: "Stop all this white-on-white violence."
