Trace Adkins Brawls with Impersonator / Enters Rehab
Country star Trace Adkins has checked himself into rehab according to Country Weekly after taking his first drink in 12 years and ending up in an altercation with a Trace Adkins impersonator aboard a “Country Crusin'” cruise ship headed for Jamaica. According to TMZ, the Adkins impersonator was in the midst of a Karaoke routine when Adkins got in a physical altercation with him. When the cruise ship arrived in Jamaica, Adkins left the ship and subsequently checked himself into rehab. Adkins was scheduled to continue on the cruise, but his performances have subsequently been canceled.
Singer Steven Barker Liles for the group Love & Theft was also aboard the cruise ship, and told radio.com that it was when the impersonator started signing autographs similar to Adkins is when the singer snapped. But according to Liles, no punches were thrown. Adkins just got into the impersonator’s face.
Adkins had been open and candid about his battles with alcohol in the past, and about his sobriety over the past dozen years. A publicist for Adkins released a statement, saying, “Trace has entered a treatment facility after a setback in his battle with alcoholism. As he faces these issues head-on, we ask that his family’s privacy will be respected.”
This is not the first time Adkins has been to rehab. After pleading guilty to drunk driving charges, he spent a month in the Cumberland Heights Alcohol and Drug Treatment Center near Nashville in December of 2002.
Adkins does not have any more scheduled performances until February 8th in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
January 15, 2014 @ 4:53 pm
Dang. Hope he can get back straight and back on the road. I know he has some songs that are more pop than country but still I do not like to see anyone get themselves in trouble with alcohol. It appears it can really make things go down hill fast and he knows that. Glad he had the guts to go back to rehab.
January 15, 2014 @ 5:06 pm
I wish Harrisburg pennsylvania would get better shows. All we get is Jason aldean and fgl. It sucks
January 15, 2014 @ 6:41 pm
Very sad. This reminds me of Deacon’s violent relapse on “Nashville” after learning that Maddie is his daughter.
January 15, 2014 @ 8:21 pm
On the one hand it’s a damn shame Trace fell off the wagon, He’s still one of my favorite pop country artists despite his latter body of work.
On the other hand a celebrity impersonator got his ass whooped by the guy he was impersonating during a karaoke routine?! I need to clean the beer of my screen after I spit it out laughing.
January 15, 2014 @ 9:38 pm
Hope all is well
January 15, 2014 @ 9:44 pm
Trace Adkins is probably capable of major damage. Hopefully the guy is OK.
January 15, 2014 @ 10:33 pm
Well he doing relapse right get your ass right into rehab. Good for him. Hopefully he comes out his old self musically. I really enjoy all his stuff up until a couple years ago. He may be poppy but not in an offensive or extremely commercial unreal way.
January 15, 2014 @ 10:52 pm
Is there a video of the altercation? That would be killer.
Best of luck to the guy, though. Good luck to the impersonator, too.
January 15, 2014 @ 11:01 pm
TMZ has a video of Trace and the same impersonator meeting back in 2007 if you click on the link above. There may be video or other evidence of the altercation though, or some other damming details close to coming out. That may be one of the reasons Trace entered rehab so quickly, to be ahead of any media or legal storm.
January 16, 2014 @ 4:32 am
Feel sorry for the big man. As has been said, he has been very open about the troubles in his past.
He may not be my favourite artist, but you have to have respect for any man shot in the heart and lungs, and still lives to tell the tale.
January 16, 2014 @ 6:52 am
Man, I would hate to get my ass whooped by Trace Adkins…
I wish the best for him in all seriousness.
He has released some pretty goofy music in recent years, but if you go back to his debut album, “Dreamin’ Out Loud,” you’ll find as good as a debut CD ever. Still listen to it a TON these days.
January 16, 2014 @ 8:17 am
1 on the Country Charts – “I got drunk and beat up my doppelgänger”
[Saw this on another site (about same article / incident) had to put it on here lol]
January 16, 2014 @ 8:42 am
Honestly I completely lost respect for the man a long time ago when I saw the “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk” video. I mean what kind of married man with children makes that kind of video? He’s on his 3rd wife and all but I can’t imagine having daughters and making a video like that? Would he want his daughters to grow up and be in a video like that?
Since then, he’s been on the Apprentice show with Donald Trump (twice) and probably done the worst hosting job of any award show I’ve ever seen.
He just seems like a complete sell out with no since of self respect. Maybe I’m being a bit hard but he bothers me.
March 26, 2014 @ 6:34 pm
Phil
YOU BOTHER ME!!!!!! back off dude dont judge until you have walked in anothers shoes!!!
January 16, 2014 @ 9:10 am
He needs to learn how to manage his drinking. Complete cessation is not the way to go.
January 16, 2014 @ 11:48 am
……said the guy who has absolutely no idea how alcoholism works.
January 16, 2014 @ 11:49 am
Said the schmo that doesn’t know me from Adam….
January 17, 2014 @ 10:09 pm
i think you two should fight like trace and his impersonator
January 16, 2014 @ 10:50 am
I hope that Trace gets help and decides that there is an easier way to live than drinking alcohol and getting into trouble.
I have never listened to one of his songs, because I don’t listen to stations which play country pop.
From the interviews I have seen him give, though, he seems like a quality person.
Getting and staying sober needs to be his first priority.
January 16, 2014 @ 11:34 am
He probably should’ve stayed away from the cruise ship gig. It’s a a blow to the ego to go from your name up in lights to a cruise. Depressing. Then to see someone ‘mocking’ you while you’re watching, it was all too much.
I hope Blake takes notes. He drinks way too much for the sake of his marriage and career. He’s at the top of his game but it can all end tomorrow on a country cruise ship. The worst part, I’m thinking about Randy Travis – ending up on a road without his clothes. It’s a cautionary tale.
January 16, 2014 @ 2:08 pm
How do you know about how much Blake drinks?
January 17, 2014 @ 7:02 am
…Blake Shelton is NOT at the top of his game. He’s releasing by far the worst music of his career.
And I said music, not “country music.” It doesn’t matter what genre it is, Blake’s last 4-5 singles and his last album are complete shit shows.
January 17, 2014 @ 10:11 pm
oh yeah, i think music is probably a strong word for that crapola
January 16, 2014 @ 5:01 pm
So was it just a shoving match or did he kick the impersonator’s “honky tonk badonkadonk?”
January 16, 2014 @ 8:58 pm
Please tell me the impersonator stuck to his guns right up to the end…
TA: Cut that out. That ain’t funny!
Imp: ‘Cut that out. That ain’t funny!’
TA: I mean it! You’re pissing me off!!
Imp: ‘I mean it! You’re pissing me off!!’
TA: One more time, and I’m gonna punch you!
Imp: ‘One more time, and
[BAMMO!]
Cut him all the way down!
January 17, 2014 @ 8:37 am
This was a big topic on the Nancy Grace show yesterday. She wants to know why he got a “free pass” and everyone else would go to jail.
January 17, 2014 @ 8:43 am
http://www.hlntv.com/video/2014/01/16/drunk-trace-adkins-fights-impersonator-cruise
Nancy Grace
January 18, 2014 @ 4:38 pm
I don’t know if there was a physical confrontation or simply a verbal exchange. It’s all quiet.
I’m leaning towards not a single punch was made and all verbal. I don’t know if the above report is accurate. It’s disappeared.
January 18, 2014 @ 4:42 pm
http://news.radio.com/2014/01/16/trace-adkins-cruise-ship-fight-eyewitness-account-from-love-thefts-stephen-barker-liles/
I found this and it says, NO punch, NO hitting.
January 20, 2014 @ 8:08 pm
The only thing that blows my mind about this is that there is an actual Trace Adkins impersonator…What life aspirations one must have…
January 21, 2014 @ 8:17 pm
It is sad. I live where people morph themselves into characters from the Old West.
They walk up and down the sidewalks, hoping someone will notice them. They love nothing more than having their photos taken with tourists. It is pathetic.
All I can think about are their families. Why does Dad spend all day dressing up like Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday or Johnny Ringo? Doesn’t he have any desire to have an identity or life of his own?
I think it would be tough to have someone following you around, signing “your name”, forging your signature for a phony autograph. Get a life of your own, dude. Yep, it would get on your last nerve.