'Tony Parker: The Final Shot': How a fight between Chris Brown and Drake nearly ended Tony Parker's career?
It was a tussle between the entourages of two rockstar musicians, but part of the casualty was NBA superstar, Tony Parker, and his career. It was June 2012, when a brawl between Chris Brown and Drake took place at a SoHo nightclub. The result was a gash on Brown's chin and a “corneal laceration of the left eye and other injuries” for Parker. Fortunate as it was, Parker did manage to recover, but reports did say that he was suing W.i.P.’s owners for $20 million related to the injuries.
Although this is pretty old news, there's every reason to believe that this topic might be possibly covered in Netflix's upcoming documentary on Parker. Titled 'Tony Parker: The Final Shot', the sports documentary will see the life and times of Parker being traced. The official synopsis reads: "How do you become one of the greatest players in French basketball? The Final Shot, a retrospective documentary of Tony Parker’s career, with interviews of Kobe Bryant, Thierry Henry, David Robinson, and many others."
To quickly recollect the event, it was reported that Parker would be suing the nightclub. According to his filing, the club was at the wrong end when it let both musicians and their entourages into the club at the same time. This, especially when it was aware of the possible bad blood over the singers' romantic histories with Rihanna. “The defendants were reckless, careless and negligent in permitting Drake’s entourage and Brown’s entourage to be in the club at the same time despite the known tension between the two,” the filing said, according to THR.
The site also added that Parker’s lawyer, David Jaroslawicz said Rihanna has "been known, like Helen of Troy, to cause trouble." He added the extent of Parker’s injuries were unclear but added they “certainly don’t improve your outside shot.” He also called selling alcohol and bottle service to both parties was "throwing gasoline on the flames." Parker, then playing for the San Antonio Spurs said he wasn't sitting with either Brown or Drake's camps, but was a casualty when he was with Brown.
"Me and my friends took some punches," Parker said. “They started throwing bottles everywhere. "I don't know what happened. At first, it was OK, but then it started getting worse and when the plane landed it was really hurting so I went straight to the ER."
"The cornea has been touched. I can't do anything for seven days... But I was lucky. The injury won't prevent me from competing in the Olympics in any way," he explained. Parker was slated to play for France at the London Olympics. In the end, it was a miraculous escape for Parker as he continued to play for another six years for the Spurs before calling time on his career in 2019.
'Tony Parker: The Final Shot' premieres on January 6, 2021, on Netflix.