Rapper Buck charged over award show brawl

LOS ANGELES - Rapper Young Buck has been charged with stabbing a fellow performer in a dispute over an autograph that touched off a melee at a Los Angeles-area hip-hop awards show last month, prosecutors said.

Young Buck, whose real name is David Darnell Brown, attacked rapper Jimmy James Johnson after Johnson was refused an autograph by Dr. Dre and then punched the rap impresario in the face, prosecutors said.

Dre, whose true name is Andre Young, was waiting to go onstage to receive a lifetime achievement award at the November 15 Vibe Awards show in Santa Monica, California.

The dispute set off a chair-throwing brawl that spread through the audience of about 1,000, but did not halt the ceremony, which was later televised on network UPN.

Johnson was arrested and remains in custody on a suspected parole violation, prosecutors said.

Brown, 23, faces up to eight years in prison if convicted of the charges filed on Monday, prosecutors said. He remains free on $500,000 (257,000 pound) bail and was set to be arraigned on Monday.

- REUTERS