Bobby Brown's entourage = knife fight = ILM thread

ATLANTA - Two members of singer Bobby Brown's entourage were hospitalized for treatment of knife wounds after a fight at a restaurant early Monday, police said.

Brown, who has a history of drug and alcohol arrests, was apparently not involved, authorities said. He lives outside Atlanta with his wife, singer Whitney Houston.

Brown was at Justin's Restaurant and Bar performing during a weekly open microphone event when the people he arrived with got into a fight. Two members of Brown's group were either cut or stabbed, police detective D.L. Dixon said. The cause of the altercation was not immediately known.

"There was a lot of music and talking going on," Dixon said. "It could have been something as simple as a bump, you know, somebody bumped into each other."

Justin's Restaurant and Bar is owned by rapper and producer Sean "P. Diddy" Combs.

Authorities were looking for the suspects, who drove away after the fight.

A 21-year-old man was taken to Piedmont Hospital and a 20-year-old man was taken to Atlanta Medical Center. Both were in stable condition, Dixon said.

Attorney Vincent L. Dimmock said Combs and his entertainment company, Bad Boy Worldwide Entertainment Group, are cooperating with the criminal investigation.

Dimmock, who previously represented Brown in an unrelated matter, said Monday was the second time the singer performed at the restaurant's open-microphone night.

Brown, 36, is to be the subject of a new eight-episode reality TV show, "Being Bobby Brown," that will debut June 30 on cable television channel Bravo.

The show will also feature Houston, who has had problems of her own. In March, the 41-year-old singer checked herself into a rehabilitation center for the second time in a year.