Posted Nov 24th 2008 12:46PM by TMZ Staff
Elvis Presley would not have fired his gun at the TV set when Kanye West said last night he wanted to be next in line for King -- the TV bull's eye was reserved for another singer.
Linda Thompson, Elvis' girlfriend, told us E.P. would have been "flattered" someone wanted to be him 31 years after his death.
Thompson says Elvis "saved those bullets for Robert Goulet." Elvis once shot out a TV set as he watched Goulet sing while lying in bed.
Filed under: Wacky & Weird, Kanye West
Posted Nov 19th 2008 5:00AM by TMZ Staff
Suge Knight now claims the Barstow cops did to his one ear what Kanye West did to his other.
Suge claims in his U.S. Bankruptcy case that while he was in custody back in 2005, he was passed around like a $2 whore -- from Barstow police to the West Valley Detention Center to the California Institution for Men.
Somewhere along the way, Suge says his diamond stud earring was stolen.
Interesting, because Suge just filed a lawsuit against Kanye West, claiming West was responsible for another Suge earring heist. When Kanye was hosting a party in 2005, Suge was shot and his $135,000 earring allegedly was pilfered off his bleeding body.
There's a buzz Suge soon will be filing suit against Diddy for the stud missing from his third ear.
Filed under: Celebrity Justice, Kanye West
Posted Nov 16th 2008 3:55AM by TMZ Staff
Kanye West is on an all out pap smear campaign following his recent arrest in England.
WARNING: The following words from his blog are very loud.
"WHEN I LEFT THE CLUB, I WAS ENCOUNTERED BY A THIRSTY PAPARAZZI AS USUAL. HE FELT HE HAD MORE RIGHTS TO MY SPACE THAN ME, SO I PUT MY HAND UP TO PREVENT HIM FROM TAKING MY IMAGE. I DIDN'T ASSAULT HIM BUT MERELY PUTTING MY HAND UP TO COVER HIS LENS. I GUESS IN ALL THE COMMOTION THE CAMERA SCRAPED HIS NOSE."
Although charges were never filed, Kanye figures the damage to his image is already done since news of his arrest overshadowed the facts in the incident.
He went on to end the blog with an impossible riddle, ""WHO'S WINNING, ME OR THE MEDIA?" Discuss amongst yourselves.
Filed under: Kanye West
Posted Nov 14th 2008 10:48AM by TMZ Staff
Dude called the cops on Kanye over that!? Are you frickin kidding?! We believe the appropriate word to describe this guy could be defined as "another way to call a cat a kitten."
Filed under: Breaking News, Kanye West
Posted Nov 14th 2008 9:47AM by TMZ Staff
Kanye West will not be charged with assaulting a photographer -- in an alleged incident that went down just hours ago in the UK.
West was arrested at a hotel in Gateshead, England early this morning after allegedly getting into a tussle with a photog on his way out of the Tup Tup nightclub in Newcastle.
After a short investigation, West was released from police custody without charges.
FYI -- The person alleging the assault made the same claim against a famous British soccer player around a month ago -- but the charges were ruled to be unfounded in that case as well.
UPDATE: TMZ just spoke with the photog -- who claims Kanye did, in fact, smash his face in around 2AM London time.
According to the snapper, it all went down when Kanye was leaving the club with 4 girls, upset that he was being captured on film. After getting angry, Kanye allegedly got violent -- shoving the camera into the snappers face, causing a cut on his nose.
Pictures are on their way...
Filed under: Celebrity Justice, Kanye West
Posted Nov 14th 2008 3:05AM by TMZ Staff
Thank God for Kanye West.
KW says in a new interview he is the champ of all musicians, and says Justin Timberlake could've done the same, but "when Justin went on vacation I made albums." He also tells AP, "I realize ... I will go down as the voice of this generation, of this decade."
For once, maybe he's not BS-ing. He's made two albums since JT did FutureSexwhatevs in 2006 ... and is about to release his third.
Filed under: Kanye West
Posted Nov 12th 2008 5:00AM by TMZ Staff
Suge Knight is picking a nasty fight with Kanye West over a diamond earring -- 3 years after the broke-ass record mogul was shot and then allegedly robbed of his ice at one of Kanye's parties.
Suge -- who recently filed for bankruptcy -- blames Kanye for allowing someone to smuggle a gun past security at West's pre-MTV VMA party at The Shore Club in Miami back in 2005, where an unknown person managed to shoot Suge in his upper right leg, shattering a bone.
According to the lawsuit filed on September 12 in US Bankruptcy Court in L.A., Suge claims he didn't just lose blood -- he also lost a 15-carat, $135,000 diamond stud earring inside the club during the incident -- and that too is Kanye's fault.
Now Suge, who claims he was so hurt that he needed to take a private jet back from Miami, is suing for all his bullet wound-related expenses AND "for damages for the loss of use and enjoyment of the earring." But check this -- even though Suge is bankrupt, he's worked out a deal with the Court that will allow him to keep a percentage of any dough he collects from the suit.
We shot a call over to Kanye's people, but haven't heard back.
Filed under: Celebrity Justice, Kanye West
Posted Sep 12th 2008 12:50PM by TMZ Staff
Kanye West was not provoked into attacking a still photographer, according to an American Airlines employee who witnessed the whole scene that was caught on tape. Nevertheless, Kanye could easily beat the rap.
Law enforcement sources told TMZ, at the time of the arrest, Kanye could be charged with felony vandalism. But here's what we know. The still camera that was broken is a Canon 40D -- retail price $1429.96. In California, someone who criminally damages property worth more than $400 can be prosecuted for felony vandalism.
But here's the rub: look closely at the video. Kanye and the bodyguard wrestle the camera away from the photog, but the bodyguard ends up with the camera ... Kanye is holding the light unit. We did some checking and found the light unit is only worth around $100, so here's the irony -- the bodyguard could be processed for a felony, but not Kanye.
BTW -- It was the bodyguard, not Kanye that broke our cam (retail value: $7000).
If Kanye is prosecuted at all, it's likely it would be for a misdemeanor. But prosecuting a celebrity where the victim is a paparazzo -- good luck, Mr. City Attorney.
Filed under: Kanye West
Posted Sep 12th 2008 9:35AM by TMZ Staff
After a busy morning getting busted for some alleged good ol' fashioned vandalism, Kanye West belatedly arrived in Hawaii on Thursday -- without incident.
Kanye blogged about the violent altercation saying, "We back in the lab!!! I'm cool with the paparazzi. This guy wasn't cool. I gotta work now... I'll rant later!"
Filed under: Paparazzi Photo, Kanye West
Posted Sep 11th 2008 3:58PM by TMZ Staff
Kanye West is finally out of jail.
West posted bail and left the LAPD's Pacific Division just minutes ago.
Story developing ...
Filed under: Kanye West
Posted Sep 11th 2008 1:25PM by TMZ Staff
We just got the video of Kanye West grabbing a still photog's camera at LAX this morning.
You see Kanye (in a gray hooded sweatshirt) and his bodyguard/road manager (in the red) grabbing the camera away from the photog. It appears the bodyguard, Don Crowley, gets the camera and Kanye gets the lighting component. Crowley smashes the camera to the ground and Kanye does the same with the light.
Erik, our camera guy, then comes closer and the bodyguard then comes up and wrestles his camera away, ultimately breaking it.
As we first reported, both Kanye and his bodyguard were arrested for vandalism. They're both being held on $20,000 bail.
Filed under: Kanye West
Posted Sep 11th 2008 1:10PM by TMZ Staff
Erik, the TMZ cameraman who shot Kanye's attack at LAX before his own camera got broken, gave us a play-by-play of what went down.
Filed under: Wacky & Weird, Kanye West
Posted Sep 11th 2008 12:17PM by TMZ Staff
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.
Filed under: Celebrity Justice, Kanye West
Posted Sep 11th 2008 11:35AM by TMZ Staff
Kanye West has just been arrested at LAX for felony vandalism.
A still photographer was trying to take pics of Kanye at the American Airlines terminal. According to our guy on the scene, Kanye allegedly confronted the photog and smashed his camera to the ground.
Our photog then began videotaping the scene when Kanye's bodyguard grabbed our camera -- a struggle ensued and the bodyguard threw the video camera to the ground, breaking it.
When Kanye realized our camera guy had videotaped the incident, he rushed our guy and yelled, "Gimme that f**king tape!"
Both Kanye and his bodyguard have been arrested and will be booked.
Click here to see the video.
Filed under: Celebrity Justice, Kanye West
