US comedian attacked on stage at Netf lix show
But he laughs it all off with Jimmy Carr and Chris Rock... who knows just how he feels!
‘I’m just happy everyone’s OK’
COMEDIAN Dave Chappelle was attacked on stage by an armed man during his latest live performance.
Chappelle, 48, was forcefully tackled to the ground by an audience member who charged into him at the Netflix Is A Joke festival in Los Angeles.
The incident at the Hollywood Bowl happened as the comedian – who has faced accusations of transphobia – was closing the show.
The stage invader was named yesterday as Isaiah Lee, 23, an aspiring rapper, who has been charged with assault with a deadly weapon.
Los Angeles police told journalists the suspect had been armed with a replica gun that could eject a knife blade.
Lee, who raps under the name Noname Trapper and attracts almost 6,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, has a track called Dave Chappelle. The attack came as Chappelle thanked fellow comedians who had performed before him on Tuesday including Chris Rock, Leslie Jones and Jon Stewart.
Actor Jamie Foxx, who was at the show wearing a sheriff’s hat, rushed to help detain the attacker with Chappelle’s security staff.
Videos shared on social media appear to show the man being subjected to blows by a number of unknown people afterwards. Other videos appear to show Lee being put in an ambulance on a stretcher with a badly injured arm.
Chappelle later joked that he had been attacked by a ‘trans man’ and, after composing himself, told the audience: ‘I just stomped a n ***** backstage. Shout out to Jamie Foxx, by the way. Whenever you’re in trouble, Jamie Foxx will show up in a sheriff’s hat.’
Rock also took the mic and joked: ‘Was that Will Smith?’ in reference to the slap he received from the Hollywood star at this year’s Academy Awards.
Comedians had warned that in the wake of that episode, they would be more vulnerable to attacks from audience members.
British comedian Jimmy Carr, who was at Tuesday’s event, shared a selfie taken with Chappelle and tweeted: ‘The Hollywood Bowl show with the legendary Dave Chappelle was crazy. Just happy everyone’s OK.’
In October Chappelle came under fire for comments about transgender people in his Netflix comedy show The Closer.
He said he was ‘team TERF’ (trans-exclusionary radical feminist) as he aligned himself with JK Rowling, who has received death threats for her views on biological women’s rights. Chappelle added: ‘Gender is a fact.’