Travis Barker Defends Himself After Intense Paparazzi Altercation

Travis Barker is defending himself after an intense altercation with some members of the paparazzi over the weekend.

During the 8-minute video, posted on TMZ.com, Barker and his friends engage in a shouting match that almost turned physical after the paparazzi were filming and taking photos of the drummer with his children leaving a restaurant.

Cops were eventually called after the photographers accused members of the musician’s entourage of stealing one of their cell phones, spitting in their face and slashing the tires on their car.

“Bottom line, take photos at red carpets. Take pics of hungry hollywood starlets and douche bags that are out at clubs and bars that like it,” Travis posted on his Twitter page on Sunday following the incident. “Bottom line I don’t. I’m not a socialite out begging for that kind of attention. I’m a family man out wit my kids. Don’t get the 2 twisted.”

However, what may have set the musician off was an encounter with a different paparazzo earlier in the day as he was entering the Marmalade Cafe at the Commons in Calabasas, Calif., while carrying his young daughter.

“I’ll kick the s**t out of you bro,” Barker says after taking a swipe at the camera. “If I didn’t have my little girl in my hands…”

“What would you do?” the cameraman says, egging the rocker on.

“Give me an hour and I’ll meet you here,” an angered Barker replies as he makes his way into the restaurant.

After leaving the restaurant and spotting the second set of photographers filming he and his family, Barker and his friends quickly approach the group.

“We don’t want no problems,” the paparazzi tell the group.

“Where’s your homeboy?” Barker angrily asks.

“I don’t know that [expletive] cat. I don’t like that [expletive] cat,” the cameraman responds as Barker’s friends chase him out of his car. “That dude’s a piece of s**t.”

Following the incidents, the Blink-182 drummer tried to defend himself on his Twitter page.

“When I’m out at breakfast at 8am in the morning the last thing i appreciate is some photographer threatening me 2 a fight while he’s 3 deep,” he wrote. “When i defend myself/my kids that don’t make me a tough guy .I was outnumbered and threatened so i did what any man would… Paparazzi cried like young girls when it was no longer 3 of them against me and my kids. Didn’t they remember threatening me an hr ago??”

As far as the 8-minute clip, which appears to show Barker and his group as the aggressors in the second incident, the rocker said the video doesn’t tell the whole story.

“And of course all the footage these lames released to the press is one sided cause they edited it,” he claimed.

And it appears the disdain for the photographers is something that runs in the family for Barker.

In an October 2009 clip posted on X-17 Online, Travis is spotted once again in Calabasas with is daughter and son, and his young son offers a message for the cameramen.

“Stop taking pictures! Stop it! I’m not kidding!” his young son yelled at the paparazzi, drawing a laugh from his dad.