Comedian Dave Chappelle was attacked on stage by an audience member armed with a fake gun that had a real knife inside Tuesday night at the Hollywood Bowl, authorities said.
The comic, 48, was performing as part of the “Netflix Is A Joke” festival, when the mayhem unfolded around 10:45 p.m., toward the end of the stand-up show, according to witnesses.
LAPD spokesperson Officer Lizeth Lomeli said Wednesday the suspect was carrying a replica handgun with a blade inside. Twitter footage showed the suspect lying on a stretcher with his elbow facing the other way.
Isaiah Lee, 23, of Los Angeles, was charged with felony assault with a deadly weapon. and held on $30,000 bail.
Lee raps under the name “NoName_Trapper,” according to social media. On Lee's Spotify page is a track called “Dave Chappell.” At one point seemingly references getting into the Hollywood Bowl — which is the location where the attack took place.
After the attack, Chappelle leaned into the microphone and quipped “that was a trans man.” He was presumably referencing his ongoing feud with the LGBTQ community over a series of remarks and jokes that many deemed transphobic.
In another video, Chappelle thanked Jamie Foxx for rushing in to help him, saying, “Listen, I just want to say I’ve had an incredible time.”
Dave Chappelle
“I’ve been doing this 35 years, I just stomped a n—a backstage. Always wanted to do that.”
Chris Rock turned the shocking Dave Chappelle onstage attack into a dunk on Will Smith’s Oscars 2022 fiasco, joking that the unknown male assailant was the slap-happy actor.
“It was all surreal. Elon Musk walked by with Guy Oseary right before it went down. Then Jamie Foxx ran up there. The crowd was just shocked. When Dave came back to the mic, he kept saying ‘Get that guy off the stage’ because the attacker was still on the stage being held down by 20 people.”
British comedian Jimmy Carr rushed to Twitter after the show ended to share a selfie with Chappelle. The comic described the stand-up show as “crazy” after witnessing the attack.
The comic found himself in hot water last year over his jokes about the trans community.
He faced vicious backlash after stoking the flames of controversy in his Netflix special, “The Closer,” which saw hundreds of the streaming service’s employees walk out in protest of the special.