Pennywise guitarist Fletcher Dragge knows first-hand how D12 were kicked off the Vans Warped Tour: Swiftly.

The chart-topping hip-hop group, proteges of Eminem, were dropped from the Vans Warped bill following a backstage fight with other rappers at a tour-stop in Camden, N.J., last Friday.

The long-standing summer punk and hip-hop tour, which counts Pennywise, Rancid, Kool Keith and Toronto's Sum 41 among its main attractions, is headed to Toronto's SkyDome this Saturday.

"Considering I'm the one who broke the fight up, I think I have a pretty good idea of what happened," Dragge said in an interview with the Toronto Sun yesterday.

The guitarist said the trouble began when rapper Esham trash-talked D12 during his performance, and then approached members of the six-man Detroit group afterward.

"D12 decided to deal with it by giving him a little beat-down that was pretty quick, it seemed like," Dragge said. "A couple of guys and I ran over and said, 'Hey, that's not cool.' We didn't get physical, but we yelled and screamed at them until D12 ran back to their bus. It looked like they were trying to make a getaway of some sort, but that didn't happen."

The fight reportedly left Esham with a broken nose, a ruptured eyeball, a concussion and hearing damage to his left ear. Fellow rapper T.N.T., who with Esham is part of the group Natas, also suffered injuries.

According to Dragge, Warped tour organizer Kevin Lyman promptly dealt with the situation by booting both D12 and Natas.

"They were off the tour in 10 minutes," Dragge said. "The atmosphere on the Warped Tour for the most part is family oriented. Everyone knows everybody, everybody has a good time, and if somebody gets out of line they get put in place with a talking-to from the other bands.

"This was the first time I saw an actual rat-pack situation where it got ugly. Kevin doesn't want that happening out here, so they're gone. It's kind of a bummer because they were both cool to have out there, but it could get dangerous."

D12 spokesman Dennis Dennehy confirmed Monday that there was a fight and that it was being investigated by police.

"On Friday, Aug. 3, an incident occurred backstage at the 'Warped Tour,' spurred by D12's concern for the safety of their guests," he told The Associated Press.

Dennehy said D12 had about nine dates left on the tour.

Eminem, who is on probation for weapons convictions, was not with D12, but home in Detroit.

D12's debut album, Devil's Night, was released two months ago and debuted at the top of the charts.

Dragge said he himself was not hurt in the melee.

"It wasn't like that. One of the guys in D12 came up to me the next day and said, 'Have a good tour, sorry we gotta go.' I said, 'S--- happens.' He said, 'Yup.'

"If someone's giving you a hard time, you're probably going to get pissed off about it. In the rap world, they deal with it in swift and sure punishment. That's what Esham got. If he was out there running off at the mouth, what did he expect?

"That's just not for the Warped Tour. We're out there giving the other bands props."

-- with files from AP