“Is that the guy who took Lita Ford’s kids away?”
— Rikki Rockett on Jim Gillette

Metal Sludge — Welcome to 2023 where your social media comments just might land you on the pages of some rock n’ roll website like Metal Sludge.

Or, in the middle of an MMA cage.

It seems Rikki Rockett‘s recent comment on Facebook has lit a small fire under a certain singer’s ass.

Here is what we know…

Howie Hubberman who is currently recovering from his near-death health challenges has been active on Facebook in recent days and posted a short blog about Nitro singer Jim Gillette.

In a nut-shell Hubberman posted about Gillette, shared some images and basically said he’s the baddest dude in entertainment, and would anyone be up to challenge him.

“Introducing The Worlds Most Dangerous Man From the entertainment field” wrote Hubberman.

“I do believe someone out there wants to go toe to toe with Jim. Please feel free to throw your hat in the ring.” added Hubberman.

A few people commented, including Poison drummer Rikki Rockett.

“Is that the guy who took Lita fords kids away?” wrote Rockett.

Some random guy name Shawn chimed in with: “I’m pretty sure he is.”

Gillette then replied: “Rikki Rockett: No I didn’t take the kids, I have sole legal and physical custody of our children, who are now grown adults. Perhaps you should educate yourself on the subject…” and included a few online past articles from both the Metal Sludge and Metal Sucks websites.

Gillette continued and seemingly issued a challenge to Rockett: “If after reading those you still feel it necessary to defend Lita, perhaps you’d like to throw your hat in the ring? Loser gives 100k to the charity of the winner’s choice. Gi, NoGi, MMA, or bare knuckle, your choice.”

The comments from others have started to get a little nasty including mentions of when Rockett was arrested on a rape warrant by the LAPD at LAX on March 28th 2008.

In June of 2008, 3 months after the arrest, Rockett was exonerated of all charges and threw a party for himself described by TMZ as a “I’m Not A Rapist Party” that included motorcycle rides, live music and a BBQ with friends.

As of this posting, it appears Rockett has replied to and answered almost every person on the thread, except for Gillette.

Rockett was in a similar squabble with another rock singer when he threatened Def Leppard‘s Joe Elliott back in August of 2008 with some harsh words and ultimately challenged the British front-man to a fight.

Rockett was unhappy over comments Elliott had made about Poison.

“For f??k’s sake, Joe Elliott! Joe, king of the power mullet, at this point you need to shut the f??k up! No more talkin’ s##t. I’ll give you a choice on how you go down. Arm bar, leg lock, shoulder lock, triangle, back choke or knock out. You pick! Let’s get it on!” wrote Rockett on his MySpace.

Now we’d like to believe that Rockett was not challenging Gillette, but it seemed to be a bit odd that in a post that was asking “Who is willing to go toe to toe” with the Nitro singer, that the Poison drummer felt the need to comment.

Hubberman was recently featured here on Metal Sludge with our story “STILL ALIVE” which details Howie‘s recent and on-going hospital stay fighting off certain death since being admitted in September.

For those keeping score at home, Hubberman was at one time Poison‘s manager and a few short years later, was also Nitro‘s manager.

Over the years Metal Sludge have published multiple articles related to the Gillette and Ford saga which have detailed and answered many of the questions asked of fans.

We will keep you posted if anything further develops between Gillette and Rockett.



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