Broadway Brawl! Rocker Bret Michaels Sues the Tony Awards Over Onstage Headbang

Despite earlier statements that he wouldn’t seek damages from the Tony Awards following an on-stage mishap, Poison frontman Bret Michaels filed a lawsuit today against Tony Awards Productions, CBS and others for unspecified damages, according to TMZ.com.

Michaels was injured during the 2009 Tony Awards telecast, when he was knocked to the ground by a piece of descending scenery during a performance of “Nothin’ But a Good Time” with the cast of Rock of Ages. According to initial reports, the rocker suffered a fractured nose and three stitches to repair a split lip. He was tended to by paramedics offstage and later saw a doctor for X-rays, where his nose injury was diagnosed. Michaels, who had suffered a neck injury during a non-performance-related injury several years earlier, reportedly also had lingering neck and back pains after the Tony mishap and planned to get a CAT scan.

In the wake of the Awards show, Michaels was in good spirits about the event, and later told People magazine that, “I want to make very clear to everybody that—first and foremost—I was honored to be asked to be at the Tonys. I’ve never done it before and in all my life it’s not something I thought I’d be on. I was really excited.”

Michaels' suit, filed today in L.A. County Superior Court, blames producers for not instructing him on how to safely exit the stage after his performance was over, and says Michaels had to be hospitalized after the incident. It also claims that six months after the awards he nearly died from a subarachnoid brain hemorrhage, and 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."

TMZ received no comment from Tony reps.

Want to relive the painful award show moment? Click below.