Kanye West is being sued for assault and battery over an alleged 2022 incident that left a man disfigured.
Per court documents obtained by TMZ on Wednesday, Justin Poplawski is claiming West punched him repeatedly after he asked the controversial rapper for an autograph.
The alleged victim claimed that on Jan. 13, 2022, he was waiting outside a hotel to get West’s autograph when the “Heartless” rapper told him to “Go the f—k [out of] here before I beat you the f—k up.”
The 46-year-old then allegedly threatened to “make a f—king example out of” Poplawski.
Poplawski, who had previously gotten West’s signature without any issues, alleged that the fashion designer then struck him and asked, “So do you want to get attacked for real?”
The father of four, 46, then allegedly struck him several times more, “severely injuring him,” after the autograph dealer requested an apology for the first blow.
The “Donda” rapper then allegedly told one of his associates to “go to the f—king house and get my f—king kids” — despite them urging him to stop.
The alleged victim is now seeking an unspecified amount of damages to cover the medical bills due to his alleged disfigurement, lost earnings and mental pain and suffering.
Reps for West did not immediately respond to Pvnew’s request for comment. Radar online was the first to report the news.
Although the lawsuit was recently filed, the incident was initially investigated but the rapper was not charged after the LA City Attorney’s Office decided there was “no reasonable likelihood of conviction.”
At the time, West’s attorney, Michael Goldstein, told us that the conclusion proved that his “client did nothing wrong.”
The criminal defense lawyer alleged that “video and photographs provided to the City Attorney’s office confirmed that this particular individual followed my client to three different locations over a short period of time and ultimately waited for him at his hotel where he approached my client at 3 a.m. [local time].”
“He once again entered my client’s personal space, which was unacceptable,” Goldstein said.
An insider confirmed to Pvnew at the time that the autograph dealer had shown up at two different restaurants where West was dining in the days leading up to the alleged altercation.
Although there was no video of the alleged assault, TMZ later obtained footage of the moments after the incident, which showed the Yeezy CEO shouting while an unidentified male lay on the ground.
In the clip, West could be heard telling a female staffer to “get away” from him as she seemingly tried to calm him down.
Meanwhile, the person capturing the ordeal seemed in shock and could be heard asking, “Why did he just do that?”
West later shared his side of the story in an interview with Jason Lee for “Hollywood Unlocked,” explaining that Poplawski “wasn’t a fan” but rather someone “taking autographs to make money on them.”
“It was 3 a.m. in front of the warehouse,” West recalled. “And this dude just, he just had this real attitude, like, ‘Whatchu gonna do? And see that?’ Imma just tell you, that blue COVID mask ain’t stop that knockout, you know what I’m saying.”
When Lee asked whether it was the man’s “taunting, the disrespect, [or] the disregard for your privacy” that set him off, West replied, “It’s all of that, but that’s what Hollywood be.”
He then explained that he was also upset over a parenting disagreement with ex Kim Kardashian at the time, which “added to [him] being in a mood where [he] was like, ‘I am not going to have this.'”
However, West never admitted to striking Poplawski.
