Zuri Edwards, Patti LaBelle’s son, testified on Friday in the ongoing assault trial of LaBelle’s bodyguard, Efrem Holmes. Edwards was involved in a confrontation at Bush Continental airport, between Holmes and a drunk instigator, Richard King.

Holmes’ attorneys say that he was defending his client and her son from the onslaught of King, according to AP.

Edwards testified that Richard King was “intoxicated, loud, obnoxious”. He was allegedly hurling racial epithets at his mother, Patti LaBelle. Then, he said, “I am instantly struck on my face, on the right side of my face.”

King, a 23-year-old West Point cadet, had a blood-alcohol level of .28 percent. That is almost 3 ½ times Texas’ legal limit! He has claimed that he does not remember what happened the day of the airport incident, but decided to sue Patti LaBelle and Efrem Holmes anyway, for which they have countersued.

Well, the courtroom knows what happened. Prosecutors showed a surveillance video which shows Edwards chest-bumping King, taking a punch from King, and then Holmes stepping in and punching King three times in the face. But, it didn’t end there. LaBelle’s hairdresser then got in the middle of it and hit King.

LaBelle testified Thursday that she and her son, who works as her manager, had just arrived in Houston with Holmes, whom she described as “cuddly, very nice, very gentle”. She said that her son, Zuni Edwards, was loading luggage into an SUV for a trip to a performance at a Louisiana casino. That’s when Richard King staggered up to the limousine in which she sat and jiggled the handle, trying to get in.

He then began yelling at her and that’s when Edwards intervened. King punched Edwards, and Holmes, the bodyguard, punched King, she said.

“Nobody was trying to hit that kid,” said LaBelle, 69. “He started everything.”

Time will tell who comes out on top of this mess, but I can make a guess…

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