Faizon Love says he flew into a rage at a valet because the guy spit and threatened to get violent BEFORE Faizon attacked ... which is why he's NOT apologizing.
The actor told us he was ticked off about a $1,000 charge for long-term parking at Columbus airport, but says it was the valet who got lippy first ... threatening to "put hands" on Faizon. He says his breaking point came when he turned his back, and heard the valet clear his throat to spit.
The spit is not apparent in the surveillance video, but Faizon insists he did ... it just missed him.
Faizon thinks the guy needed to be taught a lesson about talking smack to people. As he puts it ... real life ain't Twitter.