Chris Brown, Drake sued in NYC nightclub brawl
Pop singers Chris Brown and Drake have been named in a lawsuit over the bottle-throwing brawl in a nightclub in New York City which involved the artists’ entourages. The company with ties to the said nightclub seeks to hold Brown and Drake responsible for the violent altercation that went down on June 14.
According to reports, Entertainment Enterprises Ltd., — which has a financial stake in the New York City venue where the melee happened — claims in their $16 million lawsuit that Chris Brown and Drake “shared a grudge against the other arising out of their romantic relationships with the same woman.”
EEL claims in the suit that the moment Chris Brown and Drake crossed paths, they “began to fight violently with each other.”
The lawsuit goes on, stating, “Each arrived with his own small army of bodyguards, ‘security’ personnel, employees, friends and other members of their entourage consisting of at least 15 heavily built men trained and/or experienced in hand-to-hand and weapons combat.”
Chris Brown and Drake should be blamed for a glass-throwing, broken-bottle-swinging free-for-all in a jam packed club “in circumvention of the venue’s extensive security measures,” says the lawsuit. Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. owns the trademark for Greenhouse, but since the owners of the club itself are not involved in the suit, they declined to give a comment.
There have been no criminal charges filed against anyone in the brawl, which left “With You” singer Brown, NBA star Tony Parker and many others injured. Police said that the fight started after members of Drake’s entourage confronted Chris Brown on the dance floor as he was about to leave the club’s basement lounge called W.i.P. However, the representatives of Drake are saying otherwise. Reps said that the rapper was on his way out and did not injure anyone.
The lawsuit, on the other hand, points to news accounts of bad blood between Chris Brown and Drake — both of whom have dated “Don’t Stop The Music” singer Rihanna. Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. believes that the two men encouraged, instigated, or at least failed to stop the fight, lawyer Andrew T. Miltenberg said.
“It’s their posse, and they’re in charge, and to the extent that they could have controlled or dissipated whatever was going on, we don’t believe they did,” Miltenberg said.
The lawsuit added that because of publicity about the brawl, a $4 million deal to license Greenhouse’s name for other clubs around the country fell through.
Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. is headed by a former Greenhouse owner, Jon Bakhshi. The current owners of the NYC nightclub face lawsuits over the melee, including a $20 million claim from Parker.
The city shut down the club for quite some time after the fight, and had it reopened on July 10. It is continuing to fight a State Liquor Authority effort to nix its liquor license.