HOUSTON — Veteran R&B diva Patti LaBelle says in a countersuit filed against a West Point cadet who claims she ordered her bodyguards to beat him up outside a Houston airport terminal that the altercation began after the cadet hurled racial insults at her. But an attorney for the cadet, Richard King, denied his client ever said any racial slurs to LaBelle.

LaBelle filed a countersuit last week, accusing the cadet of attacking her bodyguards after he directed profane and racial slurs toward the singer.

In the countersuit, LaBelle’s lawyers accuse King of being intoxicated, staggering around outside the terminal, screaming obscenities and trying to enter the singer’s limousine. King was politely asked to walk away from the vehicle, according to the countersuit. King’s attorneys have said the cadet had a few drinks on the flight to Houston but denied he was intoxicated.