Drake Chris Brown Brawl Over Rihanna Forces NYC Club to Close its Doors

Drake Chris Brown Brawl Over Rihanna Forces NYC Club to Close its Doors

First, the New York City bar brawl at W.i.P. between R&B artist Chris Brown and rapper Drake sent NBA San Antonio Spurs star Tony Parker to the hospital and caused the NYPD to close the SoHo club. Now, the New York Postreports the nightclub will most likely be forced to close its doors for good.

The club has been slapped with 14 charges from the New York State Liquor Authority stemming from the fight (including one for failing to stop the brawl from escalating). The new sanctions from the liquor commission are not the first time the club has been hit with fines from New York State. In the past, the club has been charged for selling liquor to minors, and for a security guard selling weed to an undercover police officer.

“They’re absolutely in jeopardy of losing their licenses,” Liquor Authority spokesman William Crowley told the Post. “They have a number of prior charges, too, so that comes into play when we’re looking at taking action.”

In case you missed the accounts of the fateful evening, two men approached Brown’s table at the club and asked him whether he had a problem with Drake, who also happened to be there, to which he replied he did not. Later, as Brown was leaving the club, five men blocked his way on the dance floor and started taking off their shirts, yelling and prompting a full blown bottle-throwing fight which left several injured. Brown, then, went to Twitter to rant about the incident, publishing – then removing – a photo of himself with a cut chin. His publicist said Brown and girlfriend Karrueche Tran were “brutally attacked.” 

Now, in addition to being forced to deal with charges from the Liquor Authority, the club also faces a $20 million lawsuit from Tony Parker over the injuries he suffered as a result of the brawl. He suffered an injury to his cornea during the fight. His lawyers claim the club did not do enough to stop the fight, that they didn’t have enough security working when the fight started, and that they should have never let the two stars who have notoriously feuded over Rihanna into the club at the same time.

With the 14 charges, coupled with the $20 million lawsuit, it would seem there is no way that the club will be able to recover from this incident. In this case, it would seem there is such a thing as bad press.