IRON MAIDEN, SLAYER Managers Involved In GRAMMY Brawl

IRON MAIDEN manager Rod Smallwood and SLAYER manager Rick Sales (both of whom work under the Sanctuary umbrella) were involved in a fistfight with record executive Happy Walters at the BMG Grammy party over the weekend. According to a posting at Hits Daily Double, "Big talk of the night was the free-for-all at the Avalon in Hollywood during the BMG Grammy party, where record exec Happy Walters engaged in some spirited fisticuffs with Sanctuary mega-managers Rod Smallwood and Rick Sales. The latter two rushed in after Happy head-butted the company's VP Operations Prem Akkaraju in a dispute that reportedly revolved around Carl Stubner [photo#1, photo#2, TOMMY LEE, FLEETWOOD MAC, THE CULT], who left Immortal to head up Sanctuary management last year and is still involved in legal action with Walters. While bystanders looked on amazed, security rushed in to break up the fight, described as a 'rugby scrum.'"

Shortly after publishing the above item, Hits Daily Double apparently received an "open letter" from Smallwood addressing the incident. Said Smallwood: "I resent any implication that I am the type of person to get involved in 'brawls' at Grammy events or elsewhere, so let me make this clear. A group of us were chatting on the way out of the BMG party when Happy Walters stormed up and headbutted a Sanctuary Executive, Prem Akkaraju. Where I come from, headbutting is considered to be a vicious and cowardly act. I immediately stepped in to restrain Happy Walters from making further attacks on Prem Akkaraju. Happy Walters was shown out by security. I certainly was not. What would you guys do if someone walked up and assaulted a colleague right in front of you??"

Hits Daily Double concluded their coverage of the brawl with the following piece published Wednesday (Feb. 11): "The roots of the disagreement between Happy Walters and Sanctuary VP Operations Prem Akkaraju stem from when the one-time Wall Street investment banker was brought in to Immortal by Kevin Wall. Walters and Wall, of course, ended up in ongoing litigation, while Akkaraju segued to Sanctuary, where he was reportedly instrumental in luring Carl Stubner from Walters' Immortal, resulting in another lawsuit (Immortal vs. Stubner/Sanctuary). Some observers report that Walters and Prem had words at the BMG party, a scuffle ensued, and then Walters was suddenly surrounded by three or four Sanctuary execs who were with Akkaraju. According to eyewitnesses, Walters was kicked and beaten severely enough that he had to be taken to the hospital."