Tommy Lee Breaks Ribs, Exits Mötley Crüe’s Reunion Tour Kickoff

Mötley Crüe, despite rising to fame in the 1980s, is still making headlines.

From the recent Hulu series, Pam & Tommy, about drummer Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson to news of the kickoff of their reunion tour this week.

But Lee made new headlines following the band’s debut show for the reunion tour. Lee had to exit the show early, revealing that he had previously broken four of his ribs. He was replaced by Ozzy Osbourne drummer Tommy Clufetos.

That Clufetos was on hand, likely means that the band was prepared for the possibility that Lee couldn’t go the distance.

Leaving the show, Lee told the crowd, “We did it! You did it, we did it, we’re f**king here.” Indeed, Crüe’s co-headlining Stadium Tour with Def Leppard has commenced after more than a two-year delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Added Lee, “Okay, anyway, what I’ve got to tell you is about 14 days ago, I f**kin’ broke not one, not two, not three, but four f**kin’ ribs … I wish I had a f**kin’ badass story like me and Connor McGregor f**kin’ scrapping out in some f**kin’ bar or something, but I don’t. The doctors told me, ‘No playing, bro. No playing.’ And I was like, ‘Are you f**king high, bro? We’ve got a f**king tour to do!’ So anyway, I ain’t sitting out for shit. My boy’s gonna help me out here and I’ll see you guys later. On with the goddamn show.”

Clufetos then came on and finished out the remaining 11 songs.

Lee, later that night, wrote on Twitter that Clufetos will be filling in on upcoming shows, saying, “Tommy Clufetos is here to help me out until I’m back at 100% … we’ve all been waiting years for this moment, and there’s no way I’m missing this!”

The Atlanta show also featured Machine Gun Kelly, who portrayed Lee in the movie The Dirt. MGK played on the song “The Dirt (Est. 1981).” He’d previously recorded the song with the band for the Netflix movie.

The Atlanta show was the first for Mötley Crüe since their December 31 gig in 2015.

Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Live Nation