Bret Michaels claims that an accident on the set of the 2009 Tony Awards was to blame for causing a brain hemorrhage that nearly killed him last year.

The rocker filed a lawsuit against Tony Award Productions, CBS and others blaming producers for not properly instructing him on how to safely exit the stage following his performance. As he tried to exit the stage, the lawsuit states, Bret was “smacked” in the head by a piece of the set. The lawsuit, filed over the weekend in L.A. County Superior Cort, claims he had to be hospitalized for a broken nose and a cut lip.

Six months after the Tonys, Bret suffered a subarachnoid brain hemorrhage that almost took his life. Bret says the “accident” at the Tonys caused his hemorrhage.

“One of the most common causes of this type of hemorrhage is head trauma — exactly like the one Michaels suffered at the hands of the Tony Awards,” Michaels’ attorneys state in the lawsuit. “Through his sheer will to live, to see his children grow up, [he] was able to survive this trauma.”

Bret, who is suing for unspecified damages, says the show’s producers blamed him for the mishap, claiming he “missed his mark” and have “failed and refused” to fix the situation. So far, reps for the Tony Awards and CBS have yet to comment.

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