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Britney Spears Says Hit in Face by Wembanyama's Security

French basketball player Victor Wembanyama was caught up in an incident involving his security and pop star Britney Spears. Patrick T. Fallon / AFP
French basketball player Victor Wembanyama was caught up in an incident involving his security and pop star Britney Spears. Patrick T. Fallon / AFP
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Britney Spears Says Hit in Face by Wembanyama's Security

French basketball player Victor Wembanyama was caught up in an incident involving his security and pop star Britney Spears. Patrick T. Fallon / AFP
French basketball player Victor Wembanyama was caught up in an incident involving his security and pop star Britney Spears. Patrick T. Fallon / AFP

Las Vegas police said Thursday they had investigated an incident between French NBA top draft pick Victor Wembanyama's security and pop star Britney Spears, who said she had been hit in the face.

Wembanyama is in Las Vegas ahead of his first game in the NBA Summer League against Charlotte on Friday and was heading to a restaurant when he was spotted by fans -- and Spears.

Media reports said that Spears was pushed away by Wembanyama's security, which the singer's husband Sam Asghari said was "violent" and "out of control."

Wembanyama told reporters after practice that he only heard of Spears' involvement some hours after his dinner, AFP said.

"There was one person who was calling me but we talked before with the security (to not) stop because it's gonna make a crowd," said the Frenchman.

"That person was calling me 'sir sir' and that person grabbed me from behind, so I didn't see what happened because I was walking straight.

"I don't know with how much force but security pushed her away and I didn't stop to look so I kept walking and enjoyed a nice dinner."

Spears said she had simply wanted to greet the player and questioned Wembanyama's account.

"I recognized an athlete in my hotel lobby as I was heading to dinner. I later went to a restaurant at a different hotel and saw him again. I decided to approach him and congratulate him on his success," she said on Instagram.

"I tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention. I am aware of the players statement where he mentions 'I grabbed him from behind' but I simply tapped him on the shoulder," she said.

"His security then backhanded me in the face without looking back, in front of a crowd. Nearly knocking me down and causing my glasses [to fall] off my face."

The Las Vegas Police Department investigated the incident but did not take any action.

"On July 5, 2023, at approximately 11 p.m., LVMPD officers responded to a property in the 3700 block of Las Vegas Boulevard regarding a battery investigation," the police said in a statement.

"The incident has been documented on a police report and no arrest or citations have been issued. No further details will be provided at this time."

Asghari posted on social media that Spears had been "assaulted."

"The violent behavior of an out-of-control security guard should not cast a shadow on the accomplishment of a great young man on the rise @wemby," he wrote.

"I can't imagine a scenario where an unarmed female fan, showing any kind of excitement or appreciation for a celebrity would cause her to be physically assaulted, much less being hit in the face for tapping someone on the shoulder."

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Entertainment

André 3000's Alt-Jazz, ‘No Bars’ Solo Album Stunned Fans. Now, It’s up for Grammys

André Benjamin, also known as Andre 3000, arrives at the 30th Film Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica, Calif., on Feb. 21, 2015. (AP)
André Benjamin, also known as Andre 3000, arrives at the 30th Film Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica, Calif., on Feb. 21, 2015. (AP)
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André 3000's Alt-Jazz, ‘No Bars’ Solo Album Stunned Fans. Now, It’s up for Grammys

André Benjamin, also known as Andre 3000, arrives at the 30th Film Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica, Calif., on Feb. 21, 2015. (AP)
André Benjamin, also known as Andre 3000, arrives at the 30th Film Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica, Calif., on Feb. 21, 2015. (AP)

No one was expecting it. Late last year, André 3000 released his debut solo album, "New Blue Sun," 18 years after his legendary rap group Outkast's last studio album, "Idlewild."

But "New Blue Sun" has "no bars," he jokes. It's a divergence from rap because "there was nothing I was liking enough to rap about, or I didn't feel it sounded fresh. I'm not about to serve you un-fresh (expletive.)"

Instead, he offered up a six-track instrumental album of ambient alt-jazz — with special attention paid to the flute.

"The sound, that's how I got into it," he says of the instrument. "The portability, too. You can't tote around a piano and play in Starbucks."

He's also invested in the flute's history — like learning about Mayan flutes made from clay, a design he had re-created in cedarwood. "There’s all kinds of fables and, you know, indigenous stories that go along with playing the flute — playing like the birds or playing your heart like the wind — it kind of met (me) where I was in life," he says.

"Flutes — wind instruments in general — are the closest thing you get to actually hearing a human," he continues. "You're actually hearing the breath of a person."

"New Blue Sun" is a stunning collection, one that has earned André 3000 three new Grammy Award nominations: album of the year, alternative jazz, and instrumental composition. Those arrive exactly 25 years after the 1999 Grammys, where Outkast received their first nomination — for "Rosa Parks," from their third album, "Aquemini" — and 20 years after the group won album of the year for "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below."

"It matters because we all want to be acknowledged or recognized," André 3000 says of his new Grammy nominations. "It's a type of proof of connection, in some type of way ... especially with the Grammys, because it's voted on by a committee of musicians and people in the industry."

He's a bit surprised by the attention, too, given the type of album he created. "We have no singles on the radio, not even singles that are hot in the street," he says. "When you're sitting next to Beyoncé and Taylor Swift, these are highly, hugely popular music artists, I'm satisfied just because of that ... we won just to be a part of the whole conversation."

He theorizes that it may be because popular music listening habits are broadening. "A lot of artists are just trying different things. Even, you know, the album that Beyoncé is nominated for, it’s not her normal thing," he says of her country-and-then-some record, "Cowboy Carter.We’re in this place where things are kind of shifting and moving."

For André 3000, "New Blue Sun" has allowed him to "feel like a whole new artist," but it is also an extension of who he's always been. "Being on the road with Outkast and picking up a bass clarinet at a pawn shop in New York and just sitting on the back of the bus playing with it — these things have been around," he says.

He's also always embraced "newness," as he puts it, experimenting creatively "even if it sounds non-masterful."

"Even producing for Outkast, I was just learning these instruments. If I ... put my hands down and play ‘Ms. Jackson,’ I'm not knowing what I'm playing. But I like it," he says.

As for a new Outkast album, "I never say never," he says. "But I can say that the older I get, I feel like that time has happened."