Tyson Beckford seems to get into more physical face-offs than most celebrities. But he thinks it’s just because his adversaries underestimate him.
“I am the definition of the phrase ‘Don’t let the pretty face fool you,'” he told Page Six, “I’m still street. I do not know what it is — they all came at me and I have said ‘No, no, no.'”
The Ralph Lauren Polo model, 52, got into a stunning fight with DJ Ruckus in 2016, and he has alleged that Kanye West once had a goon corner him in a bathroom over remarks Beckford made publicly about West’s then-wife Kim Kardashian’s plastic surgery.
In 2016, Page Six reported that the former friends “exchanged words” at now-defunct Meatpacking club Up & Down and that when Ruckus — who had recently started dating Beckford’s ex, Shanina Shaik — left the club and drove away, the model followed him on his motorcycle.
Beckford chased Ruckus to a luxury condo building where he “[got] off his bike, still with his helmet on and [started] confronting Ruckus, and then they went back and forth until the doorman called the cops.”
Meanwhile, in 2021, Beckford claimed that West tried to “get tough” with him at a gala in 2018 and that the Chicago rapper sent one of his minions to follow him to the bathroom.
But the model claimed on a podcast that he said to the goon, “I suggest you get out of this bathroom before I wipe you all over the wall.”
Beckford had posted comments on a picture of West’s then-wife Kim Kardashian wearing an outfit that showed off her improbable curves.
“Sorry I don’t care for it personally,” he said in remarks captured in a screenshot by The Shade Room). “She is not real. Doctor f–ked up on her right hip.” (The shot revealed what appeared to be an odd, angular line around her upper leg).
He told us Tuesday of his would-be assailants — who seem to have multiplied from one to several in his memory in the intervening years — “they were small.”
“They were little dudes so I looked down on them as I was washing my hands,” he told us, “But as they teach you in jujitsu, know who is in your surroundings. So you know how to make your next move, so that’s what we do.” The former host of Bravo’s “Make Me a Supermodel” seemed to suggest that those involved in both incidents later apologized.
“I’ve always been fortunate to say, ‘Hey man I am not the cat that you wanna mess with.’ Then I get the apologies from the other guys … eventually.”
But the runway supermodel says he wouldn’t have minded handling, even at a fancy gala.
“It’s not hard to take the jacket off and take the cuff links out,” he said.
However the Jamaican native has noticed that women tend to be the focal point of all these fights and disagreements.
Beckford served as the host for the City Harvest 40th anniversary gala Tuesday night, held at Cipriani. The gala raised $5 million, enough to provide more than 9.6 million meals for New Yorkers. Richard Gere, Melba Wilson and Karen Pittman also attended.
