The New York Police Department has closed the SoHo nightclub that was the scene of a fight early Thursday involving the rapper Drake, the R&B singer Chris Brown and their respective entourages, a police spokesman said. Connect with NYTMetro Follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook for news and conversation. The department released few details as to why it had decided to shut down Club W.i.P., on Vandam Street. The department’s chief spokesman, Paul J. Browne, said in a statement that W.i.P., as well as a club above it, Greenhouse, was “closed as a result of several violations in a stipulation agreement that was made by the owners and the N.Y.P.D.” A sergeant in the police press office said on Sunday that he was unaware of what those violations were or of the details of the earlier stipulation agreement. W.i.P. opened last year. A call to the nightclub was not immediately returned. The police were still investigating the melee, which resulted in three clubgoers being brought by ambulance to Bellevue Hospital Center. In all, eight people were injured, including Mr. Brown, his girlfriend, who suffered a concussion, and his bodyguard. What caused the fight remains unclear, but it was shortly before 4 a.m. when someone began lobbing ice across the small basement space. Soon, bottles were flying through the air. One witness said it started when Mr. Brown sent a bottle of Champagne to Drake, who was in New York on tour. He returned it unopened. Ice was thrown at Mr. Brown. Then the two camps started throwing bottles at each other, the witness said. A publicist for Drake, whose real name is Aubrey Drake Graham, said that he had already left the club when the trouble started. The police have also received a different version of events from Mr. Brown and other witnesses, who told them Mr. Brown was leaving the club when several men stripped off their shirts and confronted his group. Tensions have been reported between Mr. Brown and Drake before, not least because of rumors that Drake had been romantically involved with the singer Rihanna, who performed on Drake’s most recent album.
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