A US rap star’s entourage have accused Marbella pool club security of starting a vicious and unprovoked attack on their bodyguard and breaking another’s jaw in three places.
The brutal brawl broke out at Naô Pool Club, near Puerto Banus, on Sunday evening, with shocking footage showing security guards kicking and stamping on two members of Grammy-nominated rapper Quavo’s entourage.
“This wasn’t security making sure everyone’s safe,” filmmaker Nicholas Decatalogne told The Olive Press from Miami. “This was, ‘okay, we’re gonna kick your ass.’
READ MORE: Shocking Marbella pool club brawl breaks out after ‘US rapper’s 6ft 8 bodyguard refuses bag search’
Decatalogne, a successful photographer and filmmaker including Lil Baby, had been with the rap star during his European tour and found himself in the middle of the chaos.
The incident unfolded when Quavo and his entourage arrived at the venue around 7.30pm – a last minute plan after earlier flights to Belgium to play at Dour Festival were cancelled.
Despite allegations that the brawl was triggered by the bodyguard’s refusal to have his bag checked, Decatalogne says a venue security guard patted him down ‘no problem’ on arrival before waving the rapper straight through.
“He gives him the bag, no problem, and then just walks by – no issues,” Decatalogne said. Video footage seen by The Olive Press appears to corroborate these claims.
The trouble began, Decatalogne claims, when the same guard insisted he didn’t recognise the group, despite another rapper from Quavo’s act having played in the same venue only weeks earlier.
“It’s weird, because why would they not know the artist is arriving?” Decatalogne said.
The group had already decided to leave when around a dozen more bouncers had appeared from nowhere and started ‘taunting’ the group.
The rapper got into the car, Decatalogne says, while the bodyguard was left standing by the driver’s side as guards stood at the top of the stairs leading into the club.
“They were telling us to ‘calm down’ – and we were calm – and ‘this is Marbella,'” he said.
One guard then singled out the bodyguard directly, Decatalogne claims, before the rest of the group swarmed down the stairs and surrounded them.
A doorman then ‘sucker-punched’ the bodyguard just as the group was trying to leave.
“Our security eats the first punch,” Decatalogne said. “He punches one of their dudes and drops him.”
Six or seven guards then set on him at once, throwing punches from every side, according to Decatalogne.
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The bodyguard was on the ground, repeatedly telling guards ‘you got me, it’s good, let us leave’, Decatalogne said, but the group refused to stop.
He describes it as ‘an organised ass whooping’ – six or seven guards throwing punches, another five stopping bystanders from filming, and two more managing the police once they arrived.
The bodyguard was pepper-sprayed as many as seven to 10 times, Decatalogne claimed.
“He’s already asking them to stop… they’re not letting it happen,” he said.
Guards then handcuffed the bodyguard to a small metal structure in the car park and continued pepper-spraying and hitting him even while he was restrained.
“The bodyguard is climbing to the top of this structure like a bear to escape the pepper spray and the beatings,” he said. “It’s the most bizarre thing I’ve ever seen in my life – honestly really disturbing.”
“They hit him so hard with the police baton that the spike on it actually punctured his skin,” he said. “I had to bandage it up myself before he went to hospital, because there was just a hole in his shin.”
He says the group’s drivers also seemed complicit, removing the car keys and repeatedly popping the boot on a vehicle carrying designer luggage, including Hermes and Louis Vuitton bags.
The rapper, wearing ‘a million dollars worth of jewellery’, stayed inside the car throughout.
Real name Quavious Marshall, 35, Quavo rose to fame as frontman of Atlanta hip-hop trio Migos, and was midway through a run of European festival dates when the Marbella brawl took place.
Decatalogne himself was punched repeatedly in the ribs from behind as he tried to help his photography assistant, Zach, who had his jaw broken in three places and needed surgery on his return to the US.
“The guy looks at me and then just punches Zach again and knocks him out,” he said.
Decatalogne himself sustained bruised ribs after a guard struck him from behind as he tried to help his colleague.
The group left Marbella by private jet within an hour of the violence ending, fearing for their safety.
They had been shuttling between the Costa del Sol and the French Riviera for several days before the brawl, flying into Marbella to film a music video before returning to Cannes the same night for a show in Saint Tropez.
They flew back into Marbella the following day and performed at Mirage nightclub that evening ‘without any trouble’.
A member of Naô Pool Club’s security team gave a contrasting account to a Area Costa del Sol earlier this week, claiming the bodyguard refused a bag search and struck a bouncer in the ribs first.
Medical records showed two of the venue’s security staff were treated for injuries, including a 2cm cut to the nose, and a formal complaint was filed with Policia Nacional, Spain’s national police force.
Decatalogne says the group has not been able to file a complaint of their own, having left Spain before reaching a police station.
“It was one of the worst experiences of my life, I just want to warn people what they are like at that place.”
The Olive Press has contacted Naô Pool Club for comment.
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