Kanye West Calls Pap Incident 'Self-Defense'
Kanye West has responded to claims that he attacked a “thirsty” paparazzo in England on Friday. In a lengthy post on his blog Saturday, ‘Ye explains his side of the story saying, “I put my hand up to the camera in self-defense.”
Responding to accusations that he physically assaulted the man, Kanye writes, “I didn’t assault him, but merely putting my hand up to cover his lens. My security yelled, ‘Get the camera off him.’ I guess in all the commotion the camera scraped his nose.”
The Chi-Town rapper admits to being placed in handcuffs and driven to the police station in Newcastle, England. The officers who arrested him were just following procedure even though they reportedly believed this to be a “publicity stunt” staged by the photographer.
He goes on to call for a law that requires someone to get permission before taking a photograph. Celebrity pictures taken with the intent to sell should be illegal in West’s opinion. “I am protecting my personal space since there are no laws to protect that for me,” he writes.
West doesn’t dislike all photographers though. “Paparazzi give real photographers a bad name. A picture is worth a thousand words, theirs are worth a thousand dollars.” He ends by asking, “Who’s winning, me or the media?”
Read his response in its entirety here.