Kanye West calls Newcastle scuffle 'bogus,' Criticizes cameramen

Following his brief arrest this weekend in England, hip-hop artist Kanye West has decided to speak out about his alleged altercation with a photographer outside a nightclub in Newcastle.

West was arrested on Friday morning (November 15) on suspicion of assault shortly after getting into a scuffle with a freelance photographer Terry Blackburn outside the Tup Tup club in Newcastle. The 31-year-old rapper allegedly assaulted the paparazzo when he tried to take his picture that led to his second paparazzi-related arrest.

But, the rapper denies all those tales and has taken to his blog [http://www.kanyeuniversecity.com/blog] to explain his side of the story.

"When I left the club I was encountered by a thirsty paparazzi as usual. He felt he had more rights to my space than me, so I put my hand up to prevent him from taking my image," West explains in his blog.

Several media reports had quoted the photographer Blackburn as claiming that he suffered a cut face and bruising after the rapper smacked his camera into his face and shouted, "Get the f---ing camera off him."

But, the rapper clarifies: “I didn't assault him but merely [put] my hand up to cover his lens. My security yelled, ‘Get the camera off him.’ I guess in all the commotion, the camera scraped his nose.”

The blog further states that nearly three hours later five "very cordial" police officers arrived at West’s hotel room and explained that they had to arrest him because a complaint had been filed against him.

"That was the bogus part," the rapper says. "They placed me in handcuffs and drove me to the station. They spoke about how this was obviously a publicity stunt by the photographer but they still had to go through the motions."

West, who is currently performing in the U.K. as part of his Glow in the Dark tour, also used his blog to express his distress over laws that are insufficient to stop paparazzi from becoming too aggressive or dangerous.

The rapper, who is set to release his fourth album '808s And Heartbreak' later this month, has asked for proper legal means to protect celebrities from the paparazzi.

“The fact that he could get me arrested off a mere complaint but I can't ask him to stop taking pictures of me is very lopsided,” wrote West, who also mentioned Princess Diana's 1997 fatal car crash which resulted from being chased by paparazzi in his blog. “Let us not forget the paps killed Princess Diana,” he wrote. “Right now the paps are above the law and the people they shoot are below it.”