By April MacIntyre Apr 11, 2009, 14:22 GMT
Actor Woody Harrelson spoke out about his run-in with a paparazzo at a New York airport Wednesday night, claiming it was "a case of mistaken identity."
Actor Woody Harrelson spoke out about his run-in with a paparazzo at a New York airport Wednesday night, claiming it was "a case of mistaken identity." EPA/PAUL BUCK
He thought the snapper was a zombie.
The photographer, who works for Harvey Levin's tabloid site TMZ.com, filed a complaint with police claiming Harrelson damaged his camera and pushed him in the face at La Guardia Airport, according to an airport spokesman.
"We're looking into this allegation and if it's warranted, we'll turn it over to the proper authorities," said Port Authority of New York and New Jersey spokesman Ron Marsico.
The paparazzo caught the action on a second camera, according to TMZ.
Harrelson is also being sued by another TMZ photographer for an alleged assault in 2006. Josh Levine filed a lawsuit last year for an alleged attack with Harrelson outside a Hollywood nightclub in 2006.
"I wrapped a movie called 'Zombieland,' in which I was constantly under assault by zombies, then flew to New York, still very much in character," Harrelson said in a statement issued Friday by his publicist.
"With my daughter at the airport I was startled by a paparazzo, who I quite understandably mistook for a zombie," he said.
TMZ.com posted the two videos of the incident.
The second video shows the TMZ photographer accusing Harrelson of breaking his camera. After Harrelson returns the camera to him, a fight breaks out.
"Woody, this is assault. Woody, this is assault," the photographer says on the tape. "Woody, chill out. Would you please chill out?"
The photographer continues to follow Harrelson for another four minutes.
"I'm being chased by Woody Harrelson while I'm talking to you," the photographer says as he talks to an unidentified person on a cell phone.
"He hit me in my face, he broke my friggin' camera, he broke the camera in pieces," he said.
"Zombieland". shot in Georgia, has the actor cast as a "the most frightened person on Earth" looking for refuge from zombies in his new film, according to the IMDB.com..
"Woody Harrelson has a history of anger management issues with people and we intend to put a stop to this," Cyrus Nownejad, Levine's lawyer, said Friday.
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