A photographer doesn’t feel so beautiful after allegedly taking a beating from Christina Aguilera’s bodyguard last year.
Now, said shutterbug, David Keeler, is suing the singer, her bodyguard and her Three Wishes Tour Inc. over the May 21, 2003 incident outside a Hollywood nightclub.
According to the lawsuit filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, Keeler was staked out at the entrance of the nightspot Nacional around 2 a.m. to capture Xtina and other celebrities coming out of club.
Keeler says in court documents that the “Dirrty” singer “appeared to be intoxicated and needed assistance walking to the car.” Keeler says he was snapping away at the stumbling Aguilera when he was slugged in the kisser and spat on by bodyguard Vernon Warren, who, according to the suit, told Keeler he “needed to learn respect.”
The photographer said he was left “dazed, in pain and bloodied” from the attack.
Keeler also asserts that Warren asked another man to continue the smackdown while the cameraman was left stunned and aching near Hollywood Boulevard. The unnamed third man supposedly hit Keeler in the back and told him he was “not wanted there.”
But Aguilera’s camp is refuting the claim. In a statement, the singer’s publicist, Meghan Prophet, says, “Christina has no reason to believe that such an incident did occur, nor did she witness such an incident.”
The Grammy-winning singer has been busy finalizing her new record and preparing for some key events, such as the MTV Video Music Awards, where she is nominated in two categories.
The singer, who called off her summer tour, also appears on the cover of the September issue of Jane magazine and has a sexy duet on Nelly’s new record called “Tilt ‘Cha Head Back,” out in September.