Kanye West is being investigated for battery after allegedly punching a man who “battered and sexually assaulted” his wife.
The “Bound 2” hitmaker was reportedly involved in an altercation on April 16 when he is said to have lashed out at a man in response to him putting his hands on his spouse, Bianca Censori, with the pair leaving the scene immediately afterward.
According to TMZ, police plan to speak to witnesses and will speak to West for his side of the story. However, after the outlet reported the unnamed other person had “pushed or grabbed” Censori, the rapper’s team insisted the incident was far more serious.
“‘Grabbed’ is grossly inadequate as a description of what happened. Bianca was physically assaulted,” West’s spokesperson said.
“The assailant didn’t merely collide into her,” the spokesperson continued. “He put his hands under her dress, directly on her body; he grabbed her waist; he spun her around, and then he blew her kisses. She was battered and sexually assaulted.”
Earlier this year, West was sued by autograph hunter Justin Poplawski and his wife Tiffany Marshall after the man claimed he had been left “severely injured” when he was punched by the “Stronger” hitmaker during an alleged altercation on Jan. 13, 2022, near the Soho Warehouse in Los Angeles.
In documents obtained by The Blast, Poplawski described himself as a “well-respected autograph dealer” who had previously obtained West’s signature “without incident”, but things were different this time because he claimed the Yeezy designer pledged to “make an example” of him as Poplawski referenced his “f****** divorce” from Kim Kardashian.
The lawsuit states West went on to rant: “Go the f*** [out of] here before I beat the f*** out of you. I’m going to make a f****** example of you.”
The man — who stressed he was “lawfully standing on public property” — alleged he was then struck by West several times, “severely injuring him” and one of the people with the rapper demanded he stopped.
West is accused of trying to “physically assault, harm, batter, and injure Poplawski, with the intent of committing such assault, harm, battery, and injury, when, without limitation, [Ye] unlawfully and intentionally struck him. Physically and violently attacked and battered him; and repeatedly struck him while he was defenseless and in fear for his safety causing plaintiff to sustain damages.”
The lawsuit alleged West “engaged in with a conscious disregard of the rights and safety of [the autograph seeker] and others and was despicable.”
Poplawski is suing for assault and battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence and loss of consortium, while his wife is also suing for loss of consortium.
It is unclear how much they are seeking in damages.
Video footage of part of the alleged incident, which didn’t include any violence, previously circulated online. However, police decided not to charge West with a crime at the time.
“After a thorough and careful review of all the evidence, our office is declining to file based on no reasonable likelihood of conviction,” The Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office said.
