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Bret Michaels is suing the Tony Awards for a 2009 injury he suffered when a set piece descended on his head after his performance. (Video of that is below.) About ten months after that incident he had a life threatening subarachnoid brain hemorrhage, which he’s described as feeling like a gunshot to the head and like his “brain exploded.” Bret’s lawyer says they’re suing in part because producers played off the incident and blamed Bret for it, when it was actually their fault. It also sounds like the parties tried to settle and couldn’t reach an agreement on a dollar amount.

Bret Michaels filed a lawsuit Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court against the network and the Awards, stemming from his on-stage injury during a Rock of Ages-inspired performance at the 2009 Tony Awards. In the suit, Michaels claims he asked producers whether there were any instructions as to where he should stand on the stage during his performance, but was only told to “simply exit the stage from the rear.” After singing “Nothin’ But a Good Time” — one of the songs used in Broadway’s Rock of Ages — the Poison rocker was hit by a piece of stage scenery. (Michaels had to check into the hospital for X-rays and stitches after suffering a broken nose and cut lip.) Says the suit, “Michaels was never told that the scenery piece would be descending or given any warning of the existence of the dangers it presented. Quite the opposite, Michaels specifically asked for instructions regarding how to exit after his performance and was just told to walk off the rear of the stage — in what was ultimately the danger zone.”

In the suit, Michaels, who is seeking unspecified damages, also claims the producers faulted him for the mix-up, telling press that he had “missed his mark.” The suit also connects the Tonys injury with Michaels’ well-publicized subarachnoid hemorrhage, which proved to be nearly fatal for the musician. “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.” CBS is not commenting on the suit; the Tonys have yet to respond to EW’s request for comment. (UPDATE: Michaels’ lawyer, Alex Weingarten, issued the following statement to press regarding the suit: “The Tony Awards dropped a piece of the stage on Bret’s head, and then instead of doing the right thing, joked about it and played it off for ratings … Bret never wanted to file a lawsuit, but the Tony Awards have left us with no choice. They must be held accountable for almost killing Bret, and that is what we are going to do.”)

[From EW.com]

I don’t blame Bret for suing over this, especially after he had a brain hemorrhage that could have easily killed him or left him permanently disabled. (From what I understand, it’s unclear what caused Michaels’ brain hemorrhage, but they’re often preceded by head injuries.) He’s doing fine now, but it was touch and go for him for a long time.

Here’s Bret on Piers Morgan earlier this month describing what he was doing when he had his hemorrhage – he was watching Busty Cops 3! He jokes about it here but I saw the rest of the interview and he went through hell both with the immediate hemorage and in the tough recovery period. At one point he thought he was saying goodbye to his daughters and that they would have to grow up without him. (Here’s a link to the transcript of that.)

Here’s video of what happened to Bret at the Tonys in 2009. It looks brutal.

Bret Michaels and his plastic fiance, Kristi Gibson, are shown on 3/19/11. They look like wax figures! Credit: Nector Marmolejos/WENN.com

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