New York, January 31, 2007 – Cameras stopped snapping when Richard Gere arrived at the star-studded amfAR gala on Wednesday, as photographers boycotted the Officer and a Gentleman star in protest of his recent manhandling of a paparazzo.

The incident occurred when a father/son paparazzo team were photographing Gere and his son Homer on a playground in downtown Manhattan. The senior paparazzo was at the amfAR gala, and requested anonymity, but gave us this account: Gere became agitated, and confronted the men about photographing his child. The paps insisted that they were only shooting Gere himself, but he ignored them, and grabbed the junior pap by the lapels. When the papa pap told him not to touch his son, Gere said, “I don’t give a s—t!” TMZ has some video of this altercation.

What would the Dalai Lama say?

But flashbulbs were popping when Beyonce, Woody Allen, Kim Cattrall, Stanley Tucci, Sigourney Weaver, Eve, Garry Shandling and uber-glamorous Sharon Stone walked the red carpet. Tracy Chapman performed!