It’s been revealed that popular comedian Dave Chappelle was attacked Tuesday Night. He was performing at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, California as part of the “Netflix is a Joke” comedy festival. While he performed during previous days at the festival, this was his last scheduled showing.
As you can see below, footage was recorded of the attack. The attacker tackles Dave Chappelle, hitting him and knocking him backwards, but he doesn’t appear to have fallen at all.
Here’s the clip:
https://twitter.com/abazar/status/1521735930343690242?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1521735930343690242%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fboundingintocomics.com%2F2022%2F05%2F04%2Fcomedian-dave-chappelle-attacked-during-comedy-festival-in-los-angeles-attacker-had-replica-gun-with-ejectable-knife-blade%2F
While the man tried running off the stage after he’d attacked Dave Chappelle, Chappelle’s bodyguards and festival security were able to apprehend him. Now the LAPD currently has him in custody. They were able to confirm that the man had a replica gun “that can eject a knife blade” upon proper discharge. However, they noted:
“It is not clear whether he used the weapon in the attack.”
The attacker was named Isaiah Lee and he’s 23-years-old. He was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon. Furthermore, his bail is being held at $30,000. As you can see below, further footage was taken after the incident. It shows Isaiah Lee being loaded into an ambulance after security apprehended him.
After attacking Dave Chappelle, the man was reportedly jumped by 10-20 people before being arrested pic.twitter.com/LmHemKahVa
— Culture Crave 🍿 (@CultureCrave) May 4, 2022
Just came out of the Hollywood Bowl where a man charged and tackled Dave Chapelle on stage and got his ass kicked by at least 10 people.
LAPD and LAFD are now loading him into an ambulance pic.twitter.com/7SXPe9e8az
— Brianna Sacks (@bri_sacks) May 4, 2022
BuzzFeed reporter Brianna Sacks, who recorded the footage, described the event as follows in an additional tweet:
“The show was just ending when the man hopped onto stage and ran at Chapelle, form tackling him to the ground. The comedian had literally just said he now has more security because of all the uproar from his jokes about the Trans community.”
Additionally:
“Security et al rushed and started punching and kicking the shit out of Chapelle’s attacker,” she continued. “He was just about to bring on Talib Kweli and Mos Def for the encode and we in the crowd were like what the f*** is going on. Chapelle kept on while the guy was getting beat in the back”
She also stated
“Sheer chaos,” she tweeted. “Then Jamie Fox comes out in a cowboy hat, looking absolutely shocked, and Chapelle makes a joke about stomping the guy, who is still getting beat up. kweli and Mos Def do their set while LAPD cruisers start arriving behind the stage. F***ing wild.”
Brianna Sacks further noted Dave Chappelle joked it was probably “a Trans man.”
“While the attacker was getting beat up, Chappelle made a joke about him probably being a Trans man.”
This is audible in the below video:
https://twitter.com/DoZay1/status/1521730777460879361?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1521730777460879361%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fboundingintocomics.com%2F2022%2F05%2F04%2Fcomedian-dave-chappelle-attacked-during-comedy-festival-in-los-angeles-attacker-had-replica-gun-with-ejectable-knife-blade%2F
It turns out that Chris Rock was also there, and he decided to make a joke that it was Will Smith:
“What was also wild was that Chris Rock performed at the Netflix is a Joke Chapelle show (he was fantastic) and joked about what happened to him. After Chapelle got attacked, he cam on stage and they joked that it was Will Smith.”
As of this writing, it’s unclear why Isaiah Lee attacked Dave Chappelle. An investigation is ongoing.