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.

In a fateful splash, soup flies from Benning's spoon and lands two tables away on rival best actress nominee Imelda Staunton, who is hoping to win for her performance in "Vera Drake."

Outraged, Staunton's posse of English actors thinks Benning is out to dis the competition, and one of them grabs a Christofle steak knife to exact revenge.

The knife-wielding British thespian is overwhelmed, however, when Bening's posse of decked-out publicists unleashes a chocolate-y barrage of mini Golden Globe statuette replicas, made to order by Godiva.

Swinging wildly, the blade nicks one of Benning's crew. Now, Beatty is peeved. He jumps up wildly, his chair tipping over, and charges.

A startled Jack Nicholson sees his pal Beatty in trouble and rushes to his aid. But the legendary party animal, who had been partying all evening, gets caught on the tablecloth, trips and lands on the floor, along with dishes, fancy purses and an ice sculpture of block letters that reads "Hollywood Rules."

Now, Meryl Streep rises, fists clenched, but her path is blocked by Sean Penn, who thinks Nicholson hit the ground just to sneak a peak under his wife Robin Wright Penn's dress. He's out of his chair, looking to throw a punch or two.

By this time, Diane Sawyer and Mike Nichols are so shocked, they get up to leave, even though Nichols is expected to win a Globe for "Angels in America."

Al Pacino figures, "If Mike's leaving, so am I, even if I'm a presenter!"

Eventually, things calm down, but the night has definitely been ruined.

For good or ill, there's always next year, but the show is now permanently tainted. From hereon in, the focus on the show won't be on who wins and who should be honored. Everyone will be cautiously watching for the reactions of the restless and reckless few, to see if they can get through the evening without embarrassing themselves or hurting anyone.

As one Los Angeles resident once said, "Why can't we all just get along?"