Kanye West is speaking up about his side of the story surrounding the battery allegations against him.
As we’ve been reporting, Ye was allegedly involved in some type of altercation on a downtown Los Angeles street early Thursday morning outside of a members-only club. Following the confrontation, viral video seemed to show a man laid out on the street, and reports claimed Ye allegedly may have struck him before being involved in a verbal argument with an unidentified woman.
Now, the rapper is speaking out about his side of the story — and he’s clarifying some of the things previously reported about the alleged altercation.
Related: Kanye Reportedly Flees LA Amid Battery Investigation In Favor Of Coachella Prep Work
The artist spoke about the DTLA incident with Hollywood Unlocked‘s Jason Lee, and explained plainly that he wanted to set the record straight.
The interesting thing, though, is that Ye appears to confirm the interaction with the unnamed victim during the incident, explaining at one point that the victim apparently wasn’t a fan, but a paparazzi member (below):
“So as far as the paparazzi goes, right, like, it wasn’t a fan. It was 3 a.m. in front of the warehouse. I’m saying, ‘you don’t know what I’m dealing with right now.’ I just finished these two songs, I came from the studio. I created the record, this impromptu shoot, and my cousins went and did really deliver the mission. And this dude just, he just had this real attitude, like, ‘whatchu gonna do? And see that?’ Imma just tell you, that blue COVID mask ain’t stop that knockout, you know what I’m saying?”
Holy s**t!!!!
When Lee asked whether it was “taunting,” or “disrespect,” or “disregard for your privacy” that set him off, Ye confirmed that its was all of the above, and added:
“It’s all of that, but that’s what Hollywood be. Look, man, I love the paparazzi. I love the press, I love the media, everything. But then they send those two, probably like some agents or something to really gaslight the situation. This can’t be captured in a headline. This is the reason why I wanted to sit down and talk to you directly and talk to the world about exactly what happened.”
Whoa! Agents of whom?!
Related: Julia Fox Says Her Romance With Kanye West Is NOT A PR Stunt…
West further explained that the aftermath of the incident was caught on video as he was arguing with his female cousins. He told Lee they had apparently failed to talk to estranged wife Kim Kardashian about “personal parenting matters,” per ET.
Ye explained:
“So now my cousins are coming back and they have not delivered on it. So I end up getting into an altercation with the guy that wanted to make money off of my autographs, then my cousin pulls up and she’s talking to me. I say, ‘give me a breather. Get away from me.’ She is not taking accountability for the fact that she did not do what she was supposed to do, and that added to me being in a mood where I was like, ‘I am not going to have this.’ Everyone is using me. Everyone is on my payroll and everyone is using me.”
Uh-oh — that’s not good at all.
ET spoke to Lee himself on Friday, too, and it’s interesting to hear the interviewer share his thoughts about the whole situation. For one, Lee argued that even though Ye spoke about the altercation, he did not specifically admit to striking anyone:
“Well we didn’t see Kanye punch him, so who knows. My thing is, if you don’t have the direct evidence, it didn’t happen. He didn’t say that he knocked the guy out, he didn’t admit to knocking the guy out. He said that the blue mask couldn’t protect him from what was to come. There were other people there in the video, who knows the specific details.”
Sure, that’s true, but man… the knockout quote definitely doesn’t help the situation at all. Especially considering Ye’s recently-leaked diss track saying he wanted to do basically the same thing to Pete Davidson.
What do U make of this update to the contentious DTLA situation, Perezcious readers?
Sound OFF down in the comments (below) with your take…
[Image via Will Alexander/WENN]
