Kanye West will not be charged over a battery incident in Los Angeles earlier this year, where witnesses alleged that he struck a fan during an argument outside a nightclub.
According to Variety, LAPD spokesperson Redina Puentes said the alleged incident took place outside of Soho Warehouse, a members-only club in downtown LA, in the early hours of January 13.
Fox 11 broke the news earlier in the day, with sources saying a fan was allegedly struck by West after a heated exchange.
Now, a spokesperson for Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer said in a statement to Rolling Stone that West will not be charged.
“Regarding the incident involving Kanye West that took place January 13, 2022, after a thorough and careful review of all the evidence,” they said, “our office is declining to file based on no reasonable likelihood of conviction.”
In a televised report following the incident, journalist Gigi Graciette said: “A fan says he saw Kanye sitting in his car and walked up to the window to ask him for an autograph.
“Words were exchanged – what those words are, well, that’s all part of the police investigation – but the fan told officers that Kanye jumped out of his car, called him some … words not suitable for television, and then punched him, knocking him to the ground.”
Shortly after the news was aired, TMZ posted a video of West engaging in a heated exchange between two unknown figures in a public street. The surreptitiously filmed clip, said to be shot “sometime between Wednesday night and Thursday morning”, appears to show West yelling: “Did y’all say that or not? Because that’s what happening right fucking now.”
Elsewhere, last week Kanye took to US network television to defend selling his Yeezy Gap line in black “construction bags” that some people mistakenly thought were bin bags.
Posting on Instagram earlier this month, the rapper shared a note that reads: “Look to the children… Look to the homeless… As the biggest inspiration for all design.”
Speaking to Fox News’ Fox & Friends following accusations of insensitivity, West apparently declared it was “God’s plan” for him to clarify his comments on television, according to quotes summarised by the network’s correspondent Eric Shawn, who added that Ye felt he was being “misrepresented and misunderstood”.
“I’m an innovator, and I’m not here to sit up and apologise about my ideas,” West said in the interview clip. “This is not a joke, this is not a game, this is not just some celebrity collaboration. This is my life. I’m fighting for a position to be able to change clothing and bring the best design to the people.”