An alleged fight broke out between the late country singers Toby Keith and Kris Kristofferson at Willie Nelson’s 70th birthday party, but it still holds different narratives to this day. The incident supposedly happened backstage at Beacon Theater, New York, with witnesses including Ethan Hawke and the celebrant himself.
While Ethan insists the physical brawl actually happened, Keith and Kris denied it during their lifetime. More specifically, Keith called the incident a fictitious lie, and Kris termed it as nonsense, even though Ethan detailed the scenario in a Rolling Stones article years later.
What really happened between Kris Kristofferson and Toby Keith
According to Ethan, it all began when Keith approached Willie backstage to wish him a happy birthday in his presence, with Elvis Costello, Norah Jones, and Paul Simon in the room. Keith allegedly made a snide remark about Kris’ political stance, and the latter furiously asked that he repeat himself.
Keith cockily turned his back on Kris, who asked to shut up as he has never worn his country’s uniform, served the U.S., or even killed another man in the process. Tensions arose as Kris asked Keith to “shut the f**k up,” and then accused Keith of ruining country music, likening his impact in the genre to what pantyhoses did to fingering.
Kris Kristofferson and Toby Keith responded to the allegations
Keith responded to Ethan’s Rolling Stones article at the 2009 ACM awards, noting that he was only trying to make his story interesting by telling a lie for attention. He noted that Ethan mentioned everyone else’s name except his to avoid getting into trouble.
Kris, on the other hand, gave a more light-hearted reaction, saying he was friends with Keith and Ethan, and that he could not recall the fight. He later claimed that his wife Lisa Meyers remembered the fight, but maintained that he must have forgotten.