Drama Pops Up In MTV Awards Lineup
The MTV Video Music Awards escaped the drama and damage of Hurricane Katrina. Now they face being overshadowed by another dangerous name — Suge Knight.
CBS News reports a celebrity-studded Pre-MTV Video Music Awards party turned violent early Sunday morning. Rap mogul Marion "Suge" Knight suffered a gunshot would in the leg while in attendance at a party hosted by MTV VMA nominee Kanye West. Stars including Jessica Alba, Eddie Murphy, Paris Hilton, the Game and The Black Eyed Peas were also in attendance.
Knight is in intensive care at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach this afternoon following surgery to remove a bullet from his leg and repair a fractured bone.
Knight was shot in the leg while partying in the exclusive Red Room at the rear of the Shore Club at 12:30 a.m. today.
Police have made no arrests and have no suspects. Miami Beach Police spokesman Bobby Hernandez said the investigation was being hampered by witnesses' unwillingness to talk .
"Not everyone has been cooperating with us," he said. "We don't have any physical description. We don't know how many subjects were involved, which is mind boggling, with all those people around."
It was especially frustrating for police because officers arrived almost immediately after the shooting. A Florida Highway Patrol officer working off-duty at the Shore club noticed people running from the Red Room and went to investigate.
"He's the one who called it in so we were on the scene right away," Hernandez said.
Hernandez said Knight was not armed and police did not find any weapons on his friends and security employees.
According to several witnesses, Knight was sitting at a table with friends at about 12:30 a.m. when a man wearing a hooded sweatshirt walked up to him and fired at least two shots.
"I was dancing beside him, then I heard a pop that sounded like a champagne bottle had been opened, then I saw his bodyguards throw themselves on him" said Lilo Kinn, a New York-based artist. "It happened so fast, people were in a panic, trying to get out of there."
A group of friends waiting outside Mount Sinai's emergency room in the early morning hours today — including rapper Petey Pablo who recently signed to Knight's record label Tha Row — said Knight was alert and talkative.
"That bullet is a tribal mark, orientation, something we all gotta get sometimes, just as long as we don't die, it's fine," said Pablo.
Though Knight's injuries were not life-threatening, the violence dampened the celebratory vibe of the event. MTV said the shooting would not affect the Sunday night show, which was to be hosted by Diddy with performances by West, Mariah Carey, Green Day, R. Kelly, Shakira, Kelly Clarkson and others, plus appearances including Gwen Stefani, Destiny's Child, Eva Longoria and Jessica Simpson.
"As with all of our events, MTV has a zero tolerance policy in regards to weapons and we take appropriate security precautions to ensure the safety of our guests," the network said in a statement.
Guests were not searched when entering the Shore Club hotel where West's party was held.
The awards, held in Miami for the second consecutive year, typically snowball into a weeklong party with decadent A-list bashes. But Hurricane Katrina — which struck South Florida on Thursday, causing seven deaths and widespread damage — led to the cancellation of some events. Several stars, like West, were late arriving to Miami because of the weather.
But after the storm passed on Friday, most of the events went ahead as scheduled.
"Celebrities are doing what they have to to get here, because no one wants to miss this," MTV President Christina Norman told The Associated Press on Saturday afternoon.
West, the Grammy-winning, multi-platinum critical darling, threw two parties, and Saturday's event was perhaps the most coveted invite of the evening. A throng of people stood outside the entrance to the hotel; inside, revelers mingled in the courtyard while VIP guests were entertained in a special room.
The burly Knight, founder of Death Row Records, was one of the most powerful and feared music figures of the 1990s, with superstar rappers like Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre and Tupac Shakur in his stable.
His fortunes started to slide when Shakur was shot and killed in 1996 while riding in the passenger seat of Knight's car. The shooting took place after the pair participated in the beating of a gang rival in a Las Vegas hotel; the attack resulted in Knight being sent to prison for violating his parole.
Knight had been fueling a feud with Diddy's Bad Boy label at the time in a so-called "rap war," and Bad Boy's top artist, the Notorious B.I.G., was gunned down months later in Los Angeles. Relatives of B.I.G. have accused Knight of involvement in that slaying, but police have never named him as a suspect.
Knight, a Los Angeles native, has had a long association with the Bloods gang — and a long list of enemies as well.
MTV and CBS Digital Media are both owned by Viacom.