Kanye West’s alleged attack on fan follows history of fights, court-ordered anger management classes

Kanye West’s alleged attack on a fan early Thursday is nothing new for the rapper, who has a history of getting confrontational, aggressive and out of control in public.

In the latest incident, West allegedly punched the autograph-seeking fan and knocked him down in an a reported act of rage, leading to a misdemeanor battery investigation by the Los Angeles police. West appears eager to put the incident behind him, rushing off to Coachella to work on a new album and to prepare for the famed music festival in April, TMZ reported.

Maybe West isn’t letting the investigation slow him down because he has managed to avoid jail time and other harsh penalties in previous cases when he was charged with getting violent with people in public. The 44-year-old rapper has been arrested twice before — in 2008 and 2013 — for allegedly rushing and attacking photographers trying to snap his picture.

In both cases, West was prosecuted, with judges ordering him to undergo multiple sessions of anger management counseling to “to figure out why this happened.” He also reached legal settlements with his alleged victims.

For West’s latest altercation, more details and video emerged Thursday that present a disturbing image of the musician, “enraged” and yelling at others while his alleged victim lies on the ground.

According to reports, the incident took place at about 3 a.m. outside the Soho Warehouse, a members-only social club in downtown Los Angeles. The fan spotted West, who has legally changed his name to Ye, sitting in his car after leaving the club, KTLA reported. The fan says he approached the window of West’s car to get his autograph, and a verbal exchange escalated into a physical confrontation, the Los Angeles Times said.

The fan told police that the rapper jumped out of his car, punched him, and left the scene, KTLA also reported. The fan alleges he was punched so hard to fell to the ground.

One video obtained by TMZ shows an “irate” West earlier that evening, standing near a car and yelling at two women. It’s not clear what West is angry about, but he is heard saying: “Did y’all say that or not? Did y’all say that or not? Cuz that’s what happened right (expletive) now.”

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TMZ obtained a video of Kanye West yelling at someone. He is currently being investigated for battery. pic.twitter.com/t2YIIcDg64

— Drama For The Girls (@dramaforthegirl) January 13, 2022

A second video obtained by TMZ shows the alleged victim lying in the street while an “enraged” and “absolutely livid” West is seen and heard screaming “get away from me” to an unidentified woman who is trying to calm him down. The woman is heard saying, “I am your family,” but West storms off in anger. TMZ said the woman may be his cousin.

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AIN’T NO HAND – YE

Kanye West allegedly punched some guy in downtown LA last night

video via @TMZ pic.twitter.com/2SDKqldXC5

— YEEZY GOD (@gunnertierno) January 14, 2022

According to what witnesses told TMZ, West’s exchange with the woman occurred right after he allegedly punched the fan twice — once in the head and once in the neck. The fan also hit his head when he fell to the ground.

Witnesses told TMZ that West had asked a small group of people outside the club to not photograph him, because of “what he’s going through.” After one person reportedly said in a conciliatory way, “It’s OK” and “we all go through family stuff,” West allegedly threw the two punches.

What West is “going through” could be a reference to his high-profile divorce from wife Kim Kardashian, the mother of his four young children. West also is known to be living with bipolar disorder, with reported manic episodes prompting him to rant in public or on social media about Kardashian, politics or other topics.

With a new song, West sounds annoyed that Kardashian is dating “Saturday Night Live” star Pete Davidson, TMZ reported. A rough portion of the new track with The Game, called “My Life Was Never Eazy,” leaked Friday night. It reveals West to be rapping aggressively about Davidson with the line: “God saved me from the crash, just so I can beat Pete Davidson’s ass.”

While West has publicly begged Kardashian to reconcile, he also has made a public show of being seen with other women in recent months. Notably, he has reportedly had a photographer follow him around to snap PDA-filled photos of him with his new girlfriend Julia Fox, living it up in Miami and New York City over New Year’s weekend.

A social media post shared around 1 a.m. Thursday showed the rapper hanging out with Fox at a star-studded gathering at the West Hollywood celebrity hotspot Delilah, People reported. Also present at the gathering were Madonna, ex-Tampa Bay Buccaneers player Antonio Brown and ex-professional boxer Floyd Mayweather.

Los Angeles police are continuing to investigate the altercation and will no doubt want to get West’s side of what happened, KTLA reported. As for West’s prior brushes with the police, he was arrested in 2008 on suspicion of felony vandalism and battery after an altercation with a photographer at the Los Angeles International Airport, ABC News reported. 

West and a man described as his tour manager rushed a photographer and grabbed his camera, ABC said, citing a report and video from TMZ. During the struggle, West threw the man’s camera to the ground and smashed it.

West was charged with three misdemeanor counts, including vandalism, battery and grand theft. According to a report from Vibe.com, a judge dismissed the charges after West voluntarily underwent court-approved anger management counseling.

“Kanye took the charges very seriously [and] responded appropriately by getting counseling to figure out why this happened,” his attorney Blair Berk said in an interview. “And the court appropriately agreed to dismiss all charges … this was the outcome that was appropriate given the facts of this case.”

It appears that West forgot the lessons of his anger management classes because in 2013, he was arrested again for an altercation at the Los Angeles airport. This time, another video from TMZ showed him emerging from the airport to head to a waiting car, the Los Angeles Times reported. He stopped and appeared to get into an argument with one of the numerous photographers on scene who reportedly asked: “Kanye, why can’t we talk to you?” The video showed West grabbing the photographer, getting him into a headlock, forcing him to the ground and trying to wrestle the camera out of his hands, both the Los Angeles Times and The Guardian reported.

West was charged with a misdemeanor count of battery, The Guardian reported. After he entered a no-contest plea, he was sentenced to two years probation, and ordered to perform 250 hours of community service and attend 24 anger-management sessions.

West also settled a lawsuit filed by the photographer, Daniel Ramos, The Guardian reported. The settlement was announced by Ramos’ attorney Gloria Allred who said in a statement: “This case sent an important message. Celebrities are not above the law, and they have no right to physically attack someone simply because they were asked a question.”

This story has been updated.