Police Face Axl Rose Tantrum, Take Back Ticket

A traffic ticket and singer Axl Rose’s volatile temperament almost added up to a canceled Guns N’ Roses concert Tuesday night at the Forum.

Inglewood police say that Rose threw a tantrum over a ticket his limousine driver received for an illegal left turn outside the Inglewood arena. The singer threatened to call off his band’s show unless police canceled the citation.

Police say they agreed, fearing a riot might erupt if the show did not go on. They noted that when Rose stalked off stage in a huff at a St. Louis concert last month, a riot broke out among fans.

Rose’s publicist, Bryn Bridenthal, confirmed the police version of Tuesday night’s dispute. She said: “Before a show, Axl is volatile. It’s a sensitive time and . . . someone had told the limo driver to turn left.”

Police say that when Rose’s limo was pulled over, Rose sought to talk the traffic officer out of issuing a ticket. When that failed, he arrived at the Forum in a rage, police said.

The band’s manager, Doug Goldsten, and Forum General Manager Claire Rothman then raised the issue with Police Lt. Tom Hoffman, who agreed to take the ticket back.

Rose publicly thanked Hoffman before cheering Forum fans, but the decision did not sit well with some officers. “Everybody is treated the same--we are preached that every day,” one disgruntled officer complained.

But top Inglewood police officials defended Hoffman’s decision. They added that the ticket was not canceled, but taken back for further investigation.

“Rather than stick our feet in the mud and say, ‘No, we’re going to treat you like everybody else,’ we chose to avoid a riot,” said Capt. James Seymour. “We don’t need 19,000 people at the Forum rioting over a traffic ticket.”