Feud Between Rockers Boils Over Backstage at MTV Awards

A backstage altercation Wednesday between Motley Crue singer Vince Neil and Guns N’ Roses guitarist Izzy Stradlin at the MTV Music Video Awards has led to a war of words between the two camps.

In a release issued Thursday through Geffen Records, Guns N’ Roses manager Alan Niven said, “Fortunately Vince is a powder puff and can’t do much damage, but it was a chicken . . . thing to do.”

According to the Geffen release, Niven and Stradlin were walking off stage when Neil “jumped out of a crowd of people and sucker-punched Stradlin. Stradlin’s lip was cut by Neil’s rings but he was otherwise unhurt. Neil, on the other hand, found himself on his back; he scrambled and ran for his limo.”

Niven attributed Neil’s actions to ill will left over from a 1988 incident in which Stradlin had Neil’s wife “ejected from a private room” at a local rock club, resulting in assault charges being filed and later dropped against Stradlin.

A spokeswoman for Elektra Records, after relaying Niven’s comments to Neil, who was on tour in Dallas on Thursday, disputed the description of the 1988 altercation, claiming that Stradlin had attempted to remove Neil’s wife’s clothing and later kicked her in the stomach.

Sherry Ring Ginsberg quoted Neil as saying that he felt “justified” in what he did and that this was a personal feud, not a conflict between the two bands. “When I saw him, I did what any man would do,” he said.

Guns N’ Roses manager Niven said no charges would be filed against Neil.