Leo's Loud Good-Bye

Friday March 12, 1999 12:00 AM EST

The brouhaha over Leonardo DiCaprio's recent tumultuous departure from Taiwan was bad enough for his publicist to issue a press release clarifying what happened. In a statement Thursday, Ken Sunshine said DiCaprio and his party were verbally assaulted by paparazzi when they arrived at the Taipei Airport on Monday, en route to Los Angeles after completing filming of the movie "The Beach." A friend of the "Titanic" star admitted to swearing at one of the photographers, but Sunshine said the only reason for the apology was because airport officials threatened to detain DiCaprio. "The so-called security police at the airport did little or nothing to prevent this security threat to Mr. DiCaprio's party and patrons of the airport," Sunshine said. "The only time they exerted any authority was when they threatened to hold Mr. DiCaprio's party unless the insulted photographer was appeased."