TORONTO — A Toronto photographer who claims to have witnessed a confrontation involving another shutterbug and Drake says he worries what would have happened if he wasn't there.
Michael Massie says he thinks the Toronto rapper owes a "polite apology" to Matt Small "for an overreaction to the situation."
Massie posted a photo along with a long caption on his Instagram account relating to Monday's "upsetting" incident at Toronto's Polson Pier.
Massie says he was shooting photos of the city's skyline next to three others when a helicopter "swooped over and landed right next to the end of the pier."
He says he witnessed someone get out of the helicopter, hop a fence, and confront Small.
Small alleged on his Instagram account that Drake and his bodyguard "threatened" him and were trying to grab his camera. They allegedly demanded that Small delete the photos he took.
Massie says at one point Small yelled, "Help! Call the police!"
"I took out my phone and walked over yelling I would call the police if nobody explained what was happening," Massie wrote on Instagram.
"This is when I realize one of the men around the photographer was Drake. They stopped touching his camera and Drake asked me who I was and argued with me that no one could take pictures of him and his friends.
"I told him my name and that he wasn't allowed to touch him or his camera and he is allowed to be shooting on public property. A short argument continued until they left for their limo, and walking away, I kid you not, Drake looked back and pointed at me and said, 'I'm gonna find you Michael!' (I assume he meant if I post photos of him, though I took none)"
Massie wrote that Small "seemed shaken and left nervous."
Small could not be immediately reached for comment on Wednesday morning, nor could representatives from Drake's record label.
"As a photographer, I was upset by the situation and how Matt was treated," Massie said in an email to The Canadian Press; he declined a telephone interview request.
"Often I am down at the pier on my own and had I been where Matt was I would have probably done the same with my camera. I worry how it could have turned out without another person there to show up and change the dynamic of the two-on-one interaction. It could have happened to any photographer and it wasn't appropriate.
"I want nothing from this, but I think a polite apology to Matt for an overreaction to the situation would be appropriate."
