Comedian Dave Chappelle was attacked by an audience member as he neared the end of his comedy set at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on May 3.
Video footage from the event showed the assailant, who has been identified by TMZ as 23-year-old Isaiah Lee, rushing onstage and tackling Chappelle to the ground. The comedian was able to get away from the attacker, unharmed.
Members of Chappelle’s security immediately caught the man and began punching and kicking him.
Chappelle himself later said he “stomped” the man backstage.
Once Lee was escorted off the stage, Chappelle continued on with his set and even made light of the incident later saying, “It was a trans man,” after gaining his composure.
#davechappelle attacked at #hollywoodbowl #netflixisajoke pic.twitter.com/oP04S0de90
— abazar (@abazar) May 4, 2022
Dave Chappelle's attacker is being held on a $30,000 bond
According to TMZ, Isaiah Lee allegedly had a fake gun and knife in his possession when he lunged at Dave Chappelle during the comedy show.
The outlet reports that when Lee tackled Chappelle to the ground, he pointed the replica gun right at the comedian.
After Lee was caught by Chappelle’s security personnel, he was arrested and transported to a local hospital with “superficial injuries,” according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
He has been charged with assault with a deadly weapon and is currently being held on $30,000 bond.
Dave Chappelle has recently had to up his security
As reported by Yahoo, Dave Chappelle has had to increase his security at his shows due to some controversial comments he’s made about the trans community in recent years.
The backlash stemmed from his 2021 Netflix special The Closer, which has been criticized as transphobic hate speech and even prompted trans employees and allies at Netflix to stage a walkout.
Dave Chappelle was heavily criticized for his transphobic comments in his Netflix special.
In his Netflix special The Closer, Dave Chappelle made a few comments about the LGBTQ+ community that didn’t sit right with a lot of people.
According to CBS News, the comedian made a series of comments about transgender people, siding with Harry Potter author J.K Rowling on her anti-trans statements.
“I’m team TERF!” Chappelle said, referring to trans exclusionary radical feminism, an anti-trans section of radical feminism.
“Gender is a fact,” he said. “Every human being in this room, every human being on earth, had to pass through the legs of a woman to be on earth.”
The comedian also claimed that he “beat up” a lesbian in a nightclub after he approached her partner. “I whooped the toxic masculinity out of that b****,” he said.
Following the immense backlash, Chappelle addressed the controversy on his Instagram, noting that he’s “more than willing” to meet with the trans community, but clarified that he is “not bending to anybody’s demands.”
Many online have criticized Chappelle for joking after the incident that his attacker was a trans man.
All these people leave out the fact Dave Chappelle joked that it was a “trans man” that ran on stage to beat him when we don’t know who it was. All we know is that things are about to get worse in this country and have been getting worse for trans people and Dave encourages it
— Älia Meth (@AeliaMeth) May 4, 2022
All these people leave out the fact Dave Chappelle joked that it was a “trans man” that ran on stage to beat him when we don’t know who it was. All we know is that things are about to get worse in this country and have been getting worse for trans people and Dave encourages it
— Älia Meth (@AeliaMeth) May 4, 2022
It’s terrible Dave Chappelle was assaulted.
It’s terrible the joke he made about it after was that it was “a trans man.”— Walter Chaw 周瑜 (@mangiotto) May 4, 2022
