Kanye "Ye" West is speaking out about an alleged battery incident that triggered an LAPD investigation.
A police spokesperson had told E! News that the Grammy-winning rapper and an unknown male victim had gotten into a dispute in Los Angeles on Thursday, Jan. 13 around 3 a.m., and that by the time authorities arrived, Ye had left the area. A battery report about the incident named Ye. FOX LA reported that he had allegedly punched a man and knocked him to the ground after the person asked the rap artist for an autograph.
In an interview with Hollywood Unlocked, Ye told host Jason Lee that the person who approached him was not a fan, but rather "taking autographs to make money on them."
"It was 3 a.m. in front of the [Soho] Warehouse [private nightclub]. 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."
He continued, "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 is the same as the paparazzi, this is not a fan," Ye said about the alleged autograph seeker. "This is someone who is using your image, who probably never listened to your songs, are ones that are like, 'This is my song, for real?'"
The incident occurred more than a day before Ye released a new single, "Easy," which references his ex Kim Kardashian and their kids and also features a violent lyric involving Pete Davidson, who the reality star has been dating since the fall.
TMZ posted a video of what appeared to be the aftermath of the alleged altercation, showing a man lying on a sidewalk as Ye yells and argues with an unidentified woman trying to calm him down. She tells him, "I am your family." TMZ reported that the woman is his cousin.
Ye said on Hollywood Unlocked that Ye said that his female cousins had recently attempted to speak with Kim about personal parenting matters.
"So now my cousins are coming back and they have not delivered on it," he said. "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.'"
Ye added, "Everyone is using me. Everyone is on my payroll and everyone is using me."