In the leadup to their dust up at the 2007 MTV
VIdeo Music Awards Kid Rock told KROQ that the last time he spoke to Tommy Lee saying
“Last contact I had with him was when me and Pam were going through our divorce,”
“He picked up her Blackberry and started e-mailing me a lot of horrendous things.
It was extremely disrespectful.”
Rock would claim he received the messages during a birthday parties for one of Lee’s
kids he shared with Pamela ANderson telling the guardian.
There was a lot of years of disrespect but I was a part of his kids' lives.
So I wasn't going to be disrespectful about him around the kids."
“I calmly told him, … Listen, I will see you again … and that was the end of it,
because I don’t talk, you know.”
The two narrowly avoided an altercation on New Year's Eve in 2007 in Vegas.
Rock had just divorced Pamela Anderson & tried to track down Tommy Lee going with several
members of his entourage to what he thought was Lee’s hotel room and broke down the
door only to find a frightened family.
MTV reported at the time that Rock reportedly signed autographs for the family so they wouldn't
press charges and went to a nearby strip club.
Fast forward to the MTV VMA’s later that year.
Kid Rock and Tommy lee were in attendance in addition to Pamela Anderson who was a presenter
that night.
During the time Anderson was on stage Lee whistled at his ex-wife from his seat, causing
Anderson to shoot back, "Stop it, Tommy."
MTV would report what happened next saying and i quote According to eyewitnesses, Lee
— sitting at the same table as Diddy — jawed at Rock as he made his way toward the Bad
Boy CEO, with whom he was supposed to present the show's final performance.It wasn't clear
exactly what Lee said to Rock, but apparently after his words, Rock slapped the drummer,
according to eyewitnesses.
Lee, one eyewitness said, attempted to fight back but, before he was able to land a blow,
was punched in the face by Rock.”
Tommy Lee would publish a blog post on his website detailing his version of events stating
, “i go to knock this jealous no career havin country bumpkin the f— OUT … and
before I can have a meeting with my fist and his ugly ass mug … security guards … NOT
MINE at the Palms grab me and haul my ass outta the award show threatening me that if
I move they’ll break my arm … yeah whatever!!”
The fight would happen during ALicia Keys performance and LEe would apologize to her
for interrupting her song.
Lee would also claim Rock slapped him and it wasn’t a punch and would refer to kid
rock as kid pebble in his post.
Meanwhile Kid Rock gave his version of events telling K-Rock
“This was unavoidable.
I had to do what I had to do because this was a long time coming.
You know, I came back from the bathroom and he was sitting right there.
It was even more disrespectful after everything he’s said, I was like that’s enough, that’s
it.”
In the same interview Rock would reveal Pamela Anderson had nothing to do with the feud saying
it went deeper than that without elaborating.
Rock would also reveal the following about his divorce.
“The best thing I ever did was I filed for that divorce.
You have to go through these things to realize that, you know.
I was in love with her.
I went through it, I did what I had to do, but thank God I got out of it.”
“It had absolutely zero to do with her … I knew it was a bad career move to get involved
with her because your life becomes a circus – because that’s what she wants is media
attention.”
Rock was cited for misdemeanor battery for his assault on Lee.
Rock was not detained or taken into police custody but was issued a summons.
He'll was required to return to Vegas for a future court date, and if he was convicted,
he could face a $500 fine and up to six months behind bars.
Despite the seriousness of what took place, Jamie Foxx tried to lighten the mood by joking
to the audience to "stop the white-on-white crime," while Diddy brought a more sobering
message, telling the crowd to "end the violence.
Kid Rock for his part would have the charges dropped against him.
He could thank tommy lee for that who asked for the charges to be dropped.
After the incident at the VMA boxing promoteBob Arum's offered the pair to duke it out in
the boxing ring and raise money for charity, but it fell on deaf years.
Looking back Kid Rock would tell MTV that the whole scuffle could have been avoided
but suspects someone at MTV knew what they were doing and were hoping to get a reaction
saying "Didn't MTV know all three of us [would be] in [the same] room?
Obviously, they were looking for something," he surmised.
"I don't know if MTV planned it, but somebody knew what they were doing."
Rock claims that when he arrived for the VMAs, he beganchatting with rapper Ludacris at the
back of the line stating"Some guy comes over and tells me, 'Come with me,' " Rock recalled.
"And he puts me at front of the line, right behind Pam (see "Kid Rock And Pamela Anderson
Run Into Each Other On VMA Red Carpet — Awwwk-Ward!").
"That's just stupid," Kid continued.
"In this day and age, there are so many talented people who can play and write great songs
— why are they trying to make this whole thing about this media gossip garbage?"