14 DAY TRIAL // Fact: Kanye West hates the paparazzi. Every time they harass him with questions or go out of their way to snap his photo in public, he’s either telling them off or swearing at them, trying to make them understand that he doesn’t want his pic taken. Not few were the times when he even got into scuffles with them, as he attempted to “steal” a camera or was successful doing so and smashed it on the ground.
This is why he’s now on trial: in the summer of 2013, Kanye attacked a photographer at LAX, took his camera and destroyed it. The photographer, Daniel Ramos, sued him for assault and battery, and is determined to make him pay for this violent outburst.
TMZ has obtained a recording of the deposition Kanye gave the other day, and it seems clear that the photographer’s attorney is out to establish that Kanye hates all paparazzi more than he hates the Nazi, as he even says on the record “Flashing Lights.”
Kanye isn’t even trying to hide it: yes, he hates the paparazzi and he has every reason to feel this way. He even compares the struggle of blacks of decades ago to his and his fellow celebrities’ struggle against the paparazzi.
“I mean in the ‘60s people used to hold up ‘Die [N-word]’ signs when my parents were in the sit-ins also. Yes, 100 percent... I equate [the paparazzi situation] to discrimination. I equate it to inequalities,” he explains.
“We, as group of minorities here in L.A., as celebrities have to ban together to influence guys like this – guys trying to take the picture, guys trying to get the big win, guys trying to get the check,” Kanye continues.
He says that he’s worried about his daughter to reality star Kim Kardashian, North: worried that she’s growing up in a world where celebrities are this way harassed and have their privacy violated on a daily basis, but also worried that she might die by electrocution.
Paparazzi have started using drones for their celebrity photos, and Kanye fears that one of them might malfunction while North is getting her swimming lesson in the pool. Should one such drone fall in the pool when she’s in it, would that not kill her, he asks. It is up to him to prevent that from happening.
This isn’t the first time that Kanye compares getting media attention to the plight of blacks in the ‘60s or even to rape, so that must mean that he’s really convinced of the truth of what he’s saying.
He does have a point when he says that the paparazzi have long crossed the line and are even endangering innocent bystanders, the celebrities they’re after and their children in their mad dash for that “million dollar shot.”
Still, it’s hard to take him seriously when he makes this kind of offensive parallels or, more importantly, when he also says outrageous things like “I'm the smartest celebrity you've ever [expletive]ing dealt with. I'm not Britney Spears” or “I'm in the business of trying to make dope [expletive] for the world.”