Celebrity Justice
How the Kanye Arrest Went Down

Erik, our cameraman, is on his way back to our offices now, after being interviewed by LAX Police. Here's what happened that led to Kanye West's vandalism arrest at LAX.

Erik says he was at Terminal 4 (American Airlines) when he noticed a still photog taking several pictures of Kanye West. Erik says West rushed the photog and grabbed his camera. A struggle ensued and the still guy was screaming, "Police, help!" Erik says Kanye then took the still camera and threw it on the ground, breaking it into pieces. (Click here to see the video)

Erik then went over to Kanye, his camera rolling, when Kanye's bodyguard walked up to him, realized Erik was taping, and said, "Give me the camera, give me the camera." Erik responded that he had a press pass and had a right to shoot. The assistant then grabbed the camera, ripped off the mic and viewfinder and smashed it to the ground.

Erik says Kanye then tried to leave to board his plane, but cops stopped him before he got to security. The cops then interviewed Erik, the still photog, Kanye and his assistant.

This is where it gets crazy. The cops asked Erik if he videotaped the incident and Erik said he had. That's when Kanye lunged toward him and said, "Give me the fu***ng videotape." Cops had to restrain Kanye as he tried coming at Erik.

The videotape is on its way back to our offices. We will post shortly.



Reader Comments

(Page 7 of 11) Previous 15 Comments | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Most Recent | Next 15 Comments

91. holy hell...

Posted at 1:27PM on Sep 11th 2008 by misslaura

92. You know, a lot of your responses really show how ignorant you peeps are. Kanye's ability to be a great lyrists has nothing to do with how he acts toward paparazzi. I love Kanye!!!! He is great at what he does. He is not the only celeb that is tired of being chased by people who failed at being Private Investigators and took a lower class job. All the racial sh*t that people are posting here is uncalled for. Kanye should not be defined by the color of his skin; or even the fact that he chooses to be a rapper(even though he is damn good at that). He is individual, stereotyping is a little outdated.....

P.S. I am only on here because a friend of mine is some crazed TMZ fan and sent me the link.....While I was on here, I figured I would go on record sticking up for Ye because I am probably the biggest Ye fan ever!!!...otherwise, I would never, ever visit this site.

Posted at 6:12PM on Sep 11th 2008 by Holy Sh*t

93. Amazing that the same people deriding paparrazzi for "stalking" celebrities are the same people who visit and comment on TMZ! Hello!

Posted at 1:44PM on Sep 11th 2008 by Lorrie

94. Kanye West is a little bitch!

Posted at 1:34PM on Sep 11th 2008 by Alex Vargas

95. Let'a go the the videotape......................................................

Posted at 1:36PM on Sep 11th 2008 by zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

96. All of you are complete idiots, Kanye is NEVER in trouble with the law. There a sense of F'ing respect and sometimes these camera guys get right in people's face, when the celebs want to just get the hell home. The celebs are trying to walk away and the photogs won't let them walk. I also agree that when you are well known, privacy is hard to come by.. but I think the photogs go too far... All you damn haters on Kanye, he got his money the old fashion way.. HE WORKED FOR IT...

Posted at 11:27PM on Sep 11th 2008 by Karen

97. If Kanye has a right to be the arrogant A-hole he is then the paps have a right to film it :) It is about time time he got arrested for it. Good job TMZ! Kanye needs to be brought down a few levels.

Posted at 1:50PM on Sep 11th 2008 by Amy

98. Leave Kanye alone!!! any celebrity at that.Yes, he may have over reacted but damn you guys don't know what it must feel like to be constantly chased by those monsters we call "photographers". Its 8 in the morning leave the man alone.There needs to be a balance, take the pic but once the celeb says enough turn it off. I agree with Kanye and Erick the "still" photog should also be arrested for stalking. I'd also like to add, stop saying celebs signed up for this.. CUZ THEY DIDNT, they signed up to make movies and music and do red carpet event, not have random ppl take pictures of there kids or snap a photo of them taking a sh*t,, geez! I think we forget what happend to Princess Diana and what the paparazzi did to her!

Posted at 1:38PM on Sep 11th 2008 by Jenny Jen

99. Taggert would call him anger boy. I think he's just misunderstood.

Posted at 1:55PM on Sep 11th 2008 by T

100. I can totally understand why he did it, I'm sure after a while you get tired of people always in your face!... This man not to long ago has lost his mother!! so please leave him the hell alone!! I want to really know who's really friendly at 7 something in the morning!!... So all of ya'll need to piss off!

Posted at 2:01PM on Sep 11th 2008 by Shaun

101. I wish he'd killed the Pap. You suck TMZ. You can't be professional, you have to be asses just for a dumb picture. I support Kanye 1000%.

Posted at 1:49PM on Sep 11th 2008 by TMZsux

102. I find it amazing that people are very quick to comment about how someone is a crybaby, that they should give up their rights to privacy because WE, as the public, make them famous and want to know everything about them from what they eat, to what they wear to what they do on a daily basis. Are our lives so boring and mundane that there is a even a market for this? Apparently so.

Yes, I agree people in the public eye have a duty to allow some looks into their lives. If they are living grand lives based off of fans' dollars, then yes we deserve some part of that. What we do not deserve is the right to EVERYTHING about them. He was at the airport. He clearly had his face covered, so why bother him? Is he not allowed to travel and live like everyone else because he has some CDs on the selves? Sure he can be arrogant and an a**, but so what? There are everyday people just like that who aren't shown on TV everyday and that doesn't make him any worse than John Doe in your office or at your job.

Perhaps we should look at what the photographers do. A job is a job, but when is a respectable job to ask mean spirited, hurtful or inappropriate questions of someone? When did it become okay to build a career on blocking someone's ability to have a somewhat normal life? They can scream they have a press pass 'till the cows come home, but since when has that press pass given them the right to physically invade someone's space AND disrupt the lives of those in the airport (or the street) that have nothing to do with it?

There has to be some compromise, some regulation before someone (star or photog) gets really hurt. If not, all we are going to have are more car accidents, more broken cameras and possibly more death. In the end it all boils down to humans hunting other humans and thinking there is nothing wrong with it.

Posted at 2:34PM on Sep 11th 2008 by Muse

103. Kanye is a little whiny bitc$. "Boo hoo I lost"..."boo hoo they didn't give me enough time to go on about how great I am"..."boo hoo because I am the best and I deserved to win more than anybody!" The LOSER needs to get off his high horse and come down here with the rest of the world and accept the consequences of being in the public eye. Or maybe the moron should just take his meds like most celebrities do.

Posted at 11:42AM on Sep 12th 2008 by Nessa

104. I dont care much for Kanye but I care even less for the paparazzi......I can only imagine what its like being followed/harrassed by these animals daily. Eventually one of them is going to get seriously hurt or killed....and i dont think I will have much sympathy. Anyone would lose it once in a while when you always have people following your every move and taking away your right to privacy. For once I empathize with Kanye.

Posted at 2:10PM on Sep 11th 2008 by cj

105. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH THATS WAT U RETARDS GET!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. THAT WAS SOOO AWESOME!! U GUYS ACT LIKE UR THE VICTIM BY CALLING THE POLICE. WELL I BET THE POLICE IS SOO FED UP WITH U ANNOYING A**ES. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH THATS WAT U RETARDS GET

Posted at 2:16PM on Sep 11th 2008 by SASSA

Previous 15 Comments | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Most Recent | Next 15 Comments