2006.05.20 - Associated Press - Axl Rose And Tommy Hilfiger: A One-Two With No Harm Done

Axl Rose and Tommy Hilfiger: a one-two with no harm done

NEW YORK (AP) - It was a one-two encounter between Axl Rose and Tommy Hilfiger -- with no harm done, except for a bruiser of a little story.

The rocker and designer capped a Thursday evening out at a new club called The Plumm in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood with midnight fisticuffs.

"There was an issue between the two of them," Plumm owner Noel Ashman told The Associated Press.

The scuffle reportedly started after the Guns N' Roses front man moved the drink of Hilfiger's girlfriend, Dee Ocleppo.

"I moved his girlfriend's drink so it wouldn't spill," Rose told the Los Angeles radio station KROQ on Friday, calling the 55-year-old designer's reaction "insane."

"It was the most surreal thing, I think, that's ever happened to me in my life," said Rose.

According to the 44-year-old singer, Hilfiger, 55, smacked him in the arm and told him to put the drink back.

"And I said, 'I don't want it to spill.' And he said, 'It's not going to spill.' And I said, 'Well, I don't want to sit on it.' And he said, 'You're not going to blanking sit on it,'" Rose explained.

"He just kept smacking me," Rose said.

Attempts to reach Hilfiger or a spokesperson were not immediately successful.

The outside-the-ring faceoff was apparently a one-sided performance, with Hilfiger reportedly taking two swings at the hefty Rose, who was there to play a surprise set for "Rent" actress Rosario Dawson for her 27th birthday party.

"I was very happy that Axl showed restraint. He went on and performed anyway," Ashman told the AP.

Hilfiger was escorted from the club by his own security guards.

At the time of the dustup, The Plumm was packed with a celebrity crowd including Lenny Kravitz, Mickey Rourke, Kid Rock, Peter Beard, Molly Simms, Wentworth Miller, Ann Dexter Jones, Lydia Hearst and Damon Dash.

Rose stayed to perform, and dedicated the song "You're Crazy" to "my good friend Tommy Hilfiger."

Ashman said both Hilfiger and Rose are welcome back any time.

"Tommy has been to many of my events and has always been extraordinarily well behaved," he said.