Some drama was going down at the Country Music Awards on Sunday. It wasn’t country diva drama, either… unless you consider Toby Keith a diva. An argument could be made for that, actually. Anyway, Toby Keith was backstage at the Country Music Awards, talking to the press. Keith got a specific question from a reporter from the Tennessean, who asked Keith about an article Ethan Hawke wrote for Rolling Stone.

Toby lit into the reporter and Ethan Hawke about the article. The article is about music legend Kris Kristofferson, and Toby took offense to particular, unflattering story Ethan told within the article. Ethan claims that he witnessed a backstage incident in 2003 at a Willie Nelson tribute concert for his 70th birthday at the Beacon Theatre in New York, but Ethan doesn’t name Toby Keith specifically.

Ethan writes, in the Rolling Stone article, that “a country singer who had a monster hit about bombing America’s enemies back into the stone age” came up to Kris Kristofferson and told him “None of that lefty sh-t out there tonight, Kris.” Kristofferson’s reaction was, according to Ethan, to confront this country star’s non-existent military record, saying “Have you ever killed another man? Huh? Have you ever taken another man’s life and then cashed the check your country gave you for doing it? No, you have not, so shut the f-ck up. You don’t know what the hell you are talking about.”

So Toby Keith freaked out, basically. He called Ethan Hawke a liar, he called the Rolling Stone article “superficial” and he claimed that Ethan didn’t name him (Toby) because Ethan didn’t want to “deal with the aftermath”. What aftermath? Someone has change Toby’s diaper after his hissy fit?

Ethan Hawke might want to avoid crossing paths with Toby Keith in the near future.

The country star lit into the actor for an article Hawke wrote in the new issue of Rolling Stone about Kris Kristofferson. In it, Hawke refers to a blowup Kristofferson had with an unnamed country star back in 2003 that sounds a lot like Toby Keith.

But a furious Keith, speaking backstage at the Academy of Country Music Awards, said it wasn’t true, and added that Hawke did not name him in the story because he did not want to face him later.

“I don’t know Ethan Hawke. Ethan Hawke wanted to do some kind of superficial Rolling Stone article. And he did everything he could to make his story the greatest story ever in Rolling Stone,” Keith said. “And it was a fictitious (expletive) lie. O.K?”

“He didn’t even call me by my name. … He called Norah Jones, Ray Charles, everybody else by name. Willie (Nelson), Kris (Kristofferson). Why didn’t he call my name? Why didn’t he say Toby Keith walked through and said this (expletive)? Right? You know why. You know why. You know as good as anybody why. He didn’t want to (expletive) deal with the aftermath.”

In the story, Hawke claimed he witnessed the confrontation backstage at Nelson’s tribute concert for his 70th birthday at the Beacon Theatre in New York. The article does not name Keith but says it was a country singer who “had a monster hit about bombing America’s enemies back into the stone age.” In 2002, Keith had the song “Courtesy of the Red, White & Blue (The Angry American)” that threatened retribution for the 9/11 attacks.

Hawke said the argument began with the “Star” telling Kristofferson: “None of that lefty (expletive) out there tonight, Kris.”

Hawke said Kristofferson then angrily confronted and asked him if he had ever served in the military.

“Have you ever killed another man? Huh? Have you ever taken another man’s life and then cashed the check your country gave you for doing it? No, you have not, so shut the (expletive) up,” Hawke recounted Kristofferson as saying. “You don’t know what the hell you are talking about.”

A spokeswoman for Hawke did not immediately return a message seeking comment. A Rolling Stone spokeswoman said that the magazine fully stands by the story and Hawke’s reporting.

Keith directed his anger Sunday not only at Hawke but at a reporter from the Tennessean who wrote about the Hawke article and asked Keith about it backstage.

Kristofferson, in a statement, said he did not recall the incident and tried to be diplomatic to all sides.

“I would like to state for the record that I am friends with Ethan Hawke, Toby Keith and Tennessean reporter Peter Cooper. Although I do not remember the events at Willie’s birthday party as reported in Rolling Stone, what does it matter?” he asked. “That was six years ago. I spoke to Ethan before I put out my statement and thanked him for the beautiful story he wrote for Rolling Stone and I also told him I did not recall the incident at Willie’s birthday party. This is the last statement I will put out about this nonsense.”

From The Huffington Post

Kris Kristofferson is so classy. I just love him, and my guess is that Ethan Hawke’s version of events in 2003 is probably pretty close to accurate. But instead of mocking the people in this situation, I’d just like to talk about Kris. Kris was an Army captain, a helicopter pilot and a Ranger. Kris has written or co-written hundreds of songs, and has been honored by several Songwriting Halls of Fame. His most famous song (and my favorite) is “Me and Bobby McGee”… he didn’t write it for his girlfriend Janis Joplin, but her version is probably the most memorable. He was also Janis Joplin’s boyfriend at the time of her death. Kris also had decades-long friendships with Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson. He’s a member of Veterans For Peace, and he vocally protested the Iraq War.

Ethan Hawke is shown out in Aukland, New Zealand on 4/5/09 and outside Conan O’Brien on 11/26/08. Toby Keith is shown performing on The Early Show on 6/18/07. Kriss Kistofferson is shown on 2/2/09 at the premiere of He’s Just Not That Into You. Credit: WENN.com