Pop superstar Cher has thanked 'Stronger' hitmaker Kanye West for standing up to a member of the paparazzi during a recent run in with a group of them at an airport terminal in Los Angeles.

The incident took place last week after West repeatedly asked the photographer, named Daniel Ramos, to leave him alone. He soon reached the end of his tether and smacked the camera out of the man's hand, but he has been criticised for his actions and the LA police are reportedly investigating it as a felony.

Writing on her official Twitter page last night (July 21), the icon praised the rapper for fighting back: "Dear Kanye, thank you for trashing those loathsome parasites who steal our most precious gifts: 'time & privacy'. We can never get those back."

She added that she had a negative run in with photographers once: "I ran after him and yelled, "if I catch you I'll beat you to death with that camera. He dropped it and ran! My 4-year-old child fainted! F**k them!"