Kanye Will Be Sued For Attacking a Cameraman

Kanye West's notorious aversion to paparazzi has reemerged these past few months, but not until now has it resulted in legal action for the rapper.

Kanye West's notorious aversion to paparazzi has reemerged these past few months, but not until now has it resulted in legal action for the rapper. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the videographer who got into a brief scuffle with West at Los Angeles International Airport in July has hired high-profile attorney Gloria Allred and will be filing a lawsuit over the confrontation. Allred also plans to "strongly condemn the support that some celebrities have given Kanye West for his attack on 'paparazzi,'" The Hollywood Reporter adds.

It won't amount to a felony charge, as per the L.A. County District Attorney's office's decision, but it could be a misdemeanor, which evokes similar charges filed against West in 2009. Here's video of the recent confrontation in question, via TMZ. (Skip the announcer's gratuitous commentary and begin watching at 00:28.)

It's altogether unclear what happens when West physically approaches the photographer and appears to grab the camera. If there are any punches thrown, the footage doesn't capture it (although the videographer claims to have been taken to the hospital and treated for injuries after the episode).

What is clear is that (1) the videographer deliberately and aggressively goads the rapper into some sort of reaction ("Come on, Kanye, be cool, man. What's going on, why can't we talk with you?") and (2) West pretty much knew what was going to become of the encounter before it took place—but he didn't stop it. "What you're trying to do is get me in trouble," he says, irritably approaching the cameraman, "so I step out on you and have to pay you like $250,000."

Indeed, things seem to be progressing according to plan.