Sources have confirmed that police have launched a criminal battery investigation in the wake of the incident in which San Antonio Spurs basketball player Victor Wembanyama’s security team backhanded the pop star when she tried to approach him as they were entering a Las Vegas restaurant.
“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,” a police spokesperson said on Thursday. “The incident has been documented on a police report and no arrest or citations have been issued.”
Spears is now speaking out. While the singer prefaced her comments by saying it’s a “traumatic” and “super embarrassing” story to share, she said she wanted to tell her side to urge “people in the public eye to set an example and treat all people with respect.”
As of Thursday afternoon, the “Toxic” singer claimed she had not gotten an apology from Wembanyama or the Spurs, but thanked the Las Vegas Police Department, who are investigating the incident.
“Traumatic experiences are not new to me and I have had my fair share of them. I was not prepared for what happened to me last night. 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. It was really loud, so 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. His security then backhanded me in the face without looking back, in front of a crowd. Nearly knocking me down and causing my glasses off my face”.
Wembanyama claims Spears “grabbed me from behind” so security “pushed her away.”
“One person… was calling me, ‘Sir, sir,’ and that person grabbed me from behind,” Wembanyama explained.” Wembanyama said he “didn’t stop to look” at who it was and continued walking into the restaurant so he could enjoy a nice dinner. He didn’t know it was Spears until “a couple hours” later.
However, an eyewitness backs up Spears’s version. He told TMZ that he saw Spears approach Wembanyama. Purportedly, she leaned in and said, “Excuse me, sir … excuse me, sir.” Spears apparently touched Wembanyama’s back and that’s when the witness claimed to see a Spurs security guard hit her in the face causing Spears’s sunglasses to fly off.
Sam Asghari, Britney’s husband, watched the whole thing go down, too. He blasted the “coward” who allegedly hit his wife, but said Wembanyama isn’t at fault.
“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. The blame should fall on the coward who did this, the people who hired him without proper vetting, and a systemic culture of disregard for women within sports and entertainment,” he wrote, in part, on Instagram.
“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,” he added.
