November 17, 2008

Kanye West Arrested After Alleged Tussle With Photographer, Then Cleared

By Jocelyn Vena (MTV.com)

Kanye West was reportedly arrested and released early Friday morning (November 14) after an alleged incident involving a photographer outside a nightclub in England. According to TMZ.com, West was arrested shortly after getting into a scuffle with a paparazzo outside the Tup Tup club in Newcastle.

West, 31, was reportedly arrested at a hotel in nearby Gateshead and then released. While a police spokesperson declined to name the person involved (as is the custom in England) when reached for comment by MTV News on Friday morning, he did confirm that a 31-year-old man was "released with no further action after an alleged incident at the Tup Tup nightclub."

A rep for West had no comment on the incident when reached by MTV News Friday morning.

The London Paper blog reported that the photographer claimed he suffered a cut face and bruising after West pushed his camera into his face and shouted, "Get the f---ing camera off him." According to TMZ, the photographer had previously made similar claims against a British soccer player, but those charges were also dropped.

West, along with his road manager and bodyguard, Don Crowley, was arrested in September for getting into another altercation with a photographer at Los Angeles International Airport.

West and Crowley were waiting for a flight to Honolulu, Hawaii, when they were met by a photographer and videographer, who were taking their photos. An altercation ensued, and the cameras of both paparazzi were damaged. The felony vandalism charges stemming from the incident were dropped because the property he damaged wasn't valuable enough to warrant felony charges.

West later blogged about the incident from his studio in Hawaii, saying, "We back in the lab!!!" he wrote. "I'm cool with the paparazzi. This guy wasn't cool. I gotta work now ... I'll rant later!"