Malibu pap attack: McConaughey's surfer peers go after snappers

By Stone Martindale Jun 22, 2008, 22:48 GMT

04/10/2008 - Matthew McConaughey - "Fool\'s Gold" London Premiere - Arrivals - Vue Cinema - London, England © Solarpix / PR Photos

A group of surfers at one Malibu beach came to the defense of Matthew McConaughey as they went after the paparazzi this weekend.

About a dozen X-17 online paparazzi were filming McConaughey as he surfed with friends at the Little Dume break around 2 p.m. Saturday when they came under attack by 15 surfers, according to local news affiliate, KCAL.

The allegedly inebriated surfers "aggressively approached the group of photographers and told them to leave."

When the paparazzi claimed they were legally on public property and were "just doing their jobs", the scene turned nasty.

One photographer's nose was broken, and another paparazzi was dunked in the ocean, his cameras destroyed, according to videos and descriptions of the fight posted on the Internet by celebrity Web sites TMZ.com and x17online.com.

While this was happening, McConaughey, was out into the surf.

The videos then show the group of surfers walking up the beach approaching the paparazzi. "This looks nasty," one of the photographers says.

One man points to McConaughey and his friends surfing. "They don't want you here!" he angrily tells the paparazzi. "And nobody that lives here, wants you here."

"A thousand bucks if you leave right now," offers one of the men. The video shows the photographers answering that they were on public property, and were doing their jobs.

"OK. let's draw a line and we'll fight for the beach, and if you win, you can have the beach," offers one surfer. "One on one."

A paparazzi yells back "you're being ignorant now. You'd better wake up and realize how stupid you look."

The TMZ video shows most of the photographers running away from the men in swimsuits. But one photographer, speaking with an apparent Australian accent, stands his ground on the sand.

One surfer, his arms outstretched, walks forward into the paparazzi, bumping the photographer repeatedly by shoving his chest outward. The photographer is shoved backwards several feet, loses one camera and monopole to a bystander, then turns to run.

Two men then chase the photographer down, and wind up tossing him into the surf, destroying a camera he was observed carrying. Both tapes stop at that point.

In response to the attack, x17online.com called the surfers "dorks" on its website.

"We are you, idiots," the Web page proclaimed indignantly. "Half of Malibu paps (paparazzi) are local surfers -- you're beating up on your own people."

The Los Angeles County sheriff's office said it has taken a battery report, and is looking at the Internet files to see if a crime occurred.

Spokesman Steven Whitmore said the original tapes had already been taken away from the beach when deputies arrived and said "we certainly would appreciate it if whoever has the tape brings it to the Malibu-Lost Hills sheriff's office so it can be reviewed."