Bret Michaels Says Donald Trump Told Him to Sue Tonys

Rocker and former Poison frontman Bret Michaels has filed a lawsuit agains the Tony Awards, stating that a near-fatal brain hemorrhage that he suffered is related to the injuries he received at the 2009 ceremony. The suit was filed on March 25th in Los Angeles, against Tony Awards Productions, White Cherry Entertainment, Inc, Richard Kirshner, Glen Weiss, Alan Wasser Associates LLC, Alan Wasser, Allan Williams and CBS Entertainment. 

He told the Dallas Magazine today that "Billionaire businessman Donald Trump counseled rocker Bret Michaels to file suit against CBS Entertainment and others over injuries Michaels suffered at the 2009 Tony Awards, the Poison lead singer said in Dallas Saturday. Talks to resolve the matter earlier broke down because, "let's just say, they were pretty cold," Michaels said, referring to the defendants in the lawsuit, which was filed in L.A. by his lawyers Friday. While Trump offered to intercede and advised him to sue aggressively, Michaels said, he decided mainly to ask to be compensated for work-time lost due to his injuries, which included stitches with a cut lip and a broken nose." He also notes "They never needed to show me getting hurt," he added. "They didn't offer to pay my medical costs or anything. ... I'm sorry it came to this."

According to TMZ, the suit states that "One of the most common causes of this type of hemorrhage is head trauma - exactly like the one Michaels suffered at the hands of the Tony Awards...through his sheer will to live, to see his children grow up, [he] was able to survive this trauma."

Michaels' attorneys, Spillane Weingarten LLP have posted the complete text of their filed complaint on their web site, here. 

Amongst his allegations are that the Tony Awards did not utilize a 7 second delay to prevent the airing of his incident which quickly became a YouTube sensation and that he was not properly instructed on exiting. the stage. 

In the highly publicized incident, after a performance on June 7th, 2009, Michaels turned to exit the stage and was struck in the head by a descending half-ton stage prop; it swept him off his feet causing contusions to his face and knocking him to the ground. On April 22, 2010, Michaels was rushed to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center after suffering a brain hemorrhage.

POISON appeared with the cast of "Rock of Ages", the jukebox musical about an aspiring rock group on the Sunset Strip. The American Theatre Wing's 63rd Annual Antoinette Perry "Tony"® Awards were held at Radio City Music Hall on Sunday, June 7, 2009 and broadcast on the CBS Television Network.