A gay fashion designer named Pol’ Atteu says a man attacked him backstage during his fashion show fundraiser at St. John’s Cathedral in Los Angeles this week. The accused attacker, who was the father of a 9-year-old runway model Atteu cut from his show, allegedly punched Atteu in the face and body while yelling “f*ggot.” The attacker then fled the scene.
The attack occurred in front of other child runway models during a Make-A-Wish foundation fundraiser. The fundraiser was being recorded by camera crews for the Amazon Prime Video reality show, “Gown and Out in Beverly Hills,” according to Advocate.com, but it’s unclear if camera crews recorded footage the attack. Atteu suffered a concussion, bruises, a re-injured broken shoulder and spent two days in the hospital after the attack.
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Atteu said:
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“This man, the father of a child we did not select for the fashion show went crazy and jumped me from behind. He punched me in the face, head and stomach with both his fists and kicked me repeatedly. I was holding [my dog] Snow White and protecting her from him. I thought he was going to kill me. I was terrified and screamed over and over again for him to stop and he just kept beating me until I fell to the floor.”
Atteu also said that he knows the name and identity of his attacker, and that he declined to have the man’s daughter in the fashion show because the man and his daughter lingered around the show’s audition “acting creepy.”
Video broadcast by the Los Angeles CBS News affiliate shows Atteu’s attacker running from the scene after the attack. Los Angeles police have not yet made an arrest.
Atteu has previously dressed celebrities like Betty White and Octavia Spencer.
