Bet - Bet Hip Hop Awards Boss Downplays Brawl Reports

The organisers of the Bet Hip Hop Awards have downplayed reports of a backstage brawl which marred the prizegiving on Saturday night (29Sep12), insisting it wasn't a proper fight and rumours of gun fire are completely false.

Cops were called to the Atlanta Civic Center in Atlanta, Georgia during the show to break up a backstage altercation, which was allegedly linked to rappers Rick Ross and Young Jeezy, and later spilled out into the venue's parking lot.

No arrests were made, but a police spokesperson revealed pepper spray had been used in a bid to calm tensions.

Stephen G. Hill, president of Bet's music programming and specials, has now spoken out about the incident, insisting Ross and Young Jeezy were not involved, and the 'fight' was nothing more than pushing and shoving.

He tells Billboard.com, "There was some shoving - it never turned into a fight. They realised it's an awards show. They realised we spend a lot of money to make hip-hop look good on Tv... It was not the artists..."

He also insists rumours of gunfire were blown out of proportion and blames social networking website Twitter.com for spreading the false speculation.

He adds, "Police would've closed this down a completely different way had there been gunshots. If there's gunshots, your show's not going on. Again, reckless tweeting."

A taping of the awards show, which featured performances from Sean 'Diddy' Combs, Missy Elliott and 50 Cent, will air in the U.S. on 9 October (12).