New York photographer Michael Vazquez has filed a lawsuit against Kanye West alleging that he was “assaulted, battered, beat and threatened” by Kanye and his security team during a show in May 2008—months before Kanye and his manager definitely fought with two photographers at LAX and allegedly assaulted another photographer in northern England. Apparently 2008 was not a good year to try to take a picture of Kanye West. Anyway, the New York Post reports that the incident occurred while Vazquez was at a party celebrating Casio’s G-Shock watch, at which Kanye was paid $1 million to perform while “backed by topless dancers wearing space helmets,” so you can see why Kanye would have been in a foul mood.
Vazquez filed a police report later that night saying that he’d suffered a dislocated shoulder after running afoul of Kanye’s entourage, but it was never pursued; he’s now seeking unspecified damages. By the way, other than the bit about topless ladies in space helmets, probably the best part of the Post report is this closer: “Reached at the apartment listed as Vazquez's in the suit, a man told The Post's Sabrina Ford, ‘You have the wrong Michael Vazquez.’" Yeah, um, you don’t have to put that in there.