What is up with John Rich and the fights? Seemed he was at Cafe Coco in Nashville and when it got to be closing time he took umbrage at the bartender taking his beer away.The way I hear it he went in pretty late, then wanted a singer to perform The National Anthem, then asked for the performer's guitar. He then started doing some Roger Miller. When bar-time came he told the server not to interrupt him in the middle of Roger Miller and then got pretty upset when the server reached to take his beer away (gotta say I thought when bar-time came you could finish your drink before skedaddling). He then took the bottle and threw it against a fence - right in front of an officer of the law! Who did not give him a citation but told him to leave immediately - and John did.
Oh, and a TV crew was there too - WKRN.
What's up John? Could you be mad about the lawsuit with Jared Ashley?
This thing is getting super ugly. Jared (who was on Nashville Star in season 4 when Chris Young won - I actually had to look that up as I don't remember him AT ALL!) filed a new 79-page lawsuit against John (which is more than double the size of the previous 30 page doc) They added defamation to the assault and harassment charges.
The assault and harassment charges stem from Jared accusing John of threatening him many times and punching him in the jaw in March. They are now adding defamation after John issued a statement last week claiming Jared wanted $2.9 million to drop it. Jared's rep is saying John made that up!
John did turn himself in last week for arrest and paid a $3,000 fine (and then made the statement about Jared basically trying to extort him).
Add all this to the story of the altercation John got in last fall in LA when he was accused of smashing a beer bottle in a rock musician's face (cue the lawsuit) and you start to wonder a bit about his temperament.
The server at the bar told WKRN John was "a very unpleasant person," calling him "pompous and arrogant and completely out of line, like nobody else’s rules pertain to him."
I will say that IMHO John seems like a very nice guy, but I think you can see the possibility of him being pompous and arrogant, so perhaps that comes out when he lets loose with the alcohol - I've known a few people who change personalities when they drink. (usually it's hard liquor over beer thou)
I'll keep you up to date on these events!
(thanks GAC for the story)