Patti Labelle - Patti Labelle Countersues Over Alleged Bodyguard Attack

The Lady Marmalade hitmaker is accused of ordering her security staff to assault Richard King, at an airport in Houston, Texas in March (11).

A security video which was released following the alleged attack shows a bloody King being pushed and punched by two men and a woman, believed to be LaBelle's guards.

King launched a lawsuit earlier this month (Jun11) seeking actual and punitive damages, but now LaBelle has filed her own legal papers, alleging King started the altercation by hurling racist insults at her.

LaBelle's lawyers also accuse King of being intoxicated, attempting to get into the singer's limousine, screaming obscenities - and they even claim he threw the first punch.

The papers read, "King directed profane and racial slurs towards LaBelle. When LaBelle's son (Zuri Edwards) heard the profanity and racial epithets, he informed King that the woman in the limousine was his mother. Without warning or provocation, King violently and deliberately punched Edwards in the face."

However, the 23 year old's attorneys insist although he'd had a couple of drinks he was not drunk.