Entertainment

Kanye May've Attacked His Last Paparazzi

by Lia Beck

Justin Bieber got everyone so distracted with his deposition to end all depositions that it was easy to forget other celebrities have legal issues too. For instance, Kanye West entered a no contest plea to a misdemeanor battery charge on Monday. I didn't even know West was in trouble for misdemeanor battery. After the altercation with the racial slurs guy was settled, I figured he was in the clear, but I guess I'm just not as up-to-date on my Kanye news as I thought.

The battery charge was in reference to an incident that happened in July 2013 at Los Angeles International Airport between West and paparazzo Daniel Ramos. Ramos claimed West punched him in the face and damaged his camera. West was initially charged with battery and grand theft.

In court on Monday, West was sentenced to two years probation, 250 hours of community service, 24 anger management sessions, and must pay restitution to the paparazzo. Ramos wanted more than this and told Judge Alan Rubin, "I was only doing my job, and he broke the law. I believe that if I did what he did to me, I would have been put behind bars."

West's no contest plea is treated the same as a guilty plea for sentencing, but cannot be used against him in civil lawsuits. It also means he maintains his innocence.

According to video taken at the time of the incident, Ramos said, "Now come on, Kanye, I don't want to fight with you." West responded, "I told you, don't talk to me, right. You're trying to get me in trouble so I step off and have to pay you like $250,000." At that point the fight broke out. It's unclear how much Ramos will end up getting, but West does have to pay restitution, so he had a point about the "you're trying to get me in trouble" part. Now he just needs those anger management classes to teach him how to call out paparazzi without actually ending up paying them.