A lawsuit filed Wednesday against rap group Bone Thugs-n-Harmony accused one of the group's members of attacking a Chicago man and his cousin after a Chicago concert this summer.
Joseph E. Zeidel accused Bryon McCane, better known as "Bizzy Bone," of hitting him and his cousin in the face and head while the two were on the band's tour bus after their show at the Congress Theater early on June 10. McCane's assault, the lawsuit claims, caused Zeidel to sustain a fracture, cut nose, broken glasses and other injuries, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Zeidel had paid a promoter of the Bone Thugs-n-Harmony tour $80 in order for him and his cousin to hang out on the rap group's tour bus. The two commenced to spend about a half hour on the bus before McCane allegedly started to harass them.
As they were reportedly leaving the bus, McCane then struck both men. What caused the confrontation remains unknown.
The lawsuit is seeking more than $1.2 million in damages, according to CBS Chicago, for the injuries and "extreme emotional embarrassment and trauma, with dozens of people watching" that Zeidel and his cousin say they sustained.
In addition to McCane and the rap group, other defendants in the lawsuit include the Congress Theater, its owner Erineo C. Carranza and a barrage of other promoters, record companies and sponsors apparently involved in the June concert.
Wednesday's lawsuit is not the first time a Bone Thugs-n-Harmony member has been involved in allegations of assault. Last year, Stanley "Flesh-N-Bone" Howse was arrested after an Ohio concert on a 12-year-old charge that he roughed up his mother with a gun. Howse said the attack "didn't happen" and the charges were ultimately dismissed.
In 1997, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony were recognized with a Grammy Award for their song "Tha Crossroads." They also won an American Music Award in 2007.