Kanye West, also now known as Ye, has been named as a suspect in a battery report taken by the Los Angeles police department in the early hours of Thursday morning, following an incident outside the Soho Warehouse, a members-only club. West has not been arrested, Variety confirmed on Thursday.
LA’s Fox 11 first broke the story, claiming the rapper, 44, punched a fan who asked for an autograph.
Citing law enforcement sources, TMZ reported the incident occurred around 3am and is being investigated as a misdemeanor battery, which carries a maximum jail sentence of six months.
The website published furtively recorded video of an irate West on a street, filmed “sometime between Wednesday night and Thursday morning”, in which West can be heard yelling, “Did y’all say that or not? Did y’all say that or not? … Cuz that’s what happened right fucking now.”
TMZ also reported that West was partying earlier in the evening at Delilah’s nightclub in West Hollywood with the actor Julia Fox, whom he has recently started dating. He later left the club while Fox stayed behind.
The news comes a day after organizers for the Coachella music festival confirmed West as a headliner for the April 2022 event along with Billie Eilish and Harry Styles. It would be West’s first full set at North America’s largest music festival since he headlined there in 2011.
This is not West’s first brush with law enforcement for battery – in March 2014, West pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor count of battery against a photographer whom he charged during a paparazzi swarm at LAX in July 2013. The incident, in which West attempted to wrestle the camera from the man’s hands, was captured on video. As part of his probation, West was required to undergo 24 anger management sessions, perform 250 hours of community service and pay restitution to the victim.
Beverly Hills police also investigated an incident in January 2014 in which West was accused of assaulting a man at a chiropractor’s office. The rapper reached a civil settlement with the man and was not charged.
