Bad 'Vibe': Violence at Awards Show

Nov. 18, 2004 — -- It's not like we needed another awards show, especially another music awards show newbie like "The Vibe Awards," now in its second year. But hey, if you've got the dough, put on the show, right?

We already have The Source Awards, The American Music Awards, The Billboard Music Awards, The Grammy Awards, to mention a few, and they honor most every form of music. The Vibe Awards are just for hip-hop, R&B and soul.

I'm not saying we shouldn't have award shows devoted to a specific form of music. But if we do, they should be graced with phenomenal performances and memorable acceptance speeches. What we don't need to see is more violence, as there is surely enough of that in the real world, not to mention the abundance in movies, scripted TV shows and reality TV.

At Monday's taping of the Vibe Awards Monday in Santa Monica, Calif., a fight broke out while Snoop Dogg and Quincy Jones were preparing to honor Dr. Dre. Now police are searching for a 23-year-old rapper known as Young Buck, who allegedly stabbed a man who had punched Dre.

Award shows are supposed to be glitzy events when stars, dripping in diamonds, honor their finest. Unfortunately, as the old saying goes, "You can dress 'em up, but you can't take 'em out."

These days, even that might be too much to ask. You can't even dress them up.

It's true that the musicians -- rockers, hip-hoppers and rappers, in particular -- have a party-hardy reputation. We're almost conditioned to accept their antics, much more so than your typical movie and television celebs. But enough is enough.

Imagine, if you will, the same throw-down going down at the Golden Globe Awards.

Annette Benning is sitting at a table with husband, Warren Beatty, basking in the free-flowing champagne and the excitement of the evening as she's been nominated for best actress in "Being Julia."

While dining on consomméé, ever so careful not to spill on her Reem Acra gown, Benning accidentally gets her spoon caught in her own multimillion-dollar bling-bling bracelet, courtesy of Jacob the Jeweler.