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Here's What Happened When Dave Chappelle Got Attacked Onstage

Here's What Happened When Dave Chappelle Got Attacked Onstage

Mathieu Bitton / Netflix

Dave Chappelle was attacked on Tuesday night by a man who ran up onstage during his performance at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.


In a video posted to social media, a man can be seen running towards the stage and tackling Chappelle to the ground while security guards rush to intervene.

The Los Angeles Police Department confirmed the incident saying that the man was carrying a replica gun with an ejectable knife blade. It is unknown if the man tried to use the weapon at all.

According to the LAPD the suspect has since been identified as Isaiah Lee, 23, and has been charged with felony assault with a deadly weapon.

Chappelle was performing at his "Dave Chappelle and Friends" show, part of the Netflix is A Joke Festival, when the incident occurred.

Lee, who was in the audience leaped on stage and attacked Chappelle as he was getting ready to leave. Security guards quickly pulled the suspect from the comedian and then detained him, said the police. Lee was taken to the hospital for injuries he sustained during the altercation.

Chappelle was not injured during the attack and continued the show afterwards, joking about the incident.

"It was a trans man," he commented, according to The Hollywood Reporter (The gender identity of the attacker is not known).

Audience members were left stunned by the altercation.

Brianna Sacks, a BuzzFeed News reporter who attended the show and witnessed the altercation, said,

“We all kind of stood there frozen."

One social media user who was at the show, Jed Simon, called Chappelle a "great sport" for returning to the stage.



According to Sacks, the comedian explained that he has had to increase his security after facing fierce backlash for his jokes about the transgender community.

Sacks also shared a video of the suspect being loaded into the ambulance on a stretcher following the altercation. She said he appeared to have been badly beaten.


Sacks said the incident was similar to Chris Rock being slapped at the Oscars by Will Smith.

"I think it just shows, like, the reality for comedians right now,” said Sacks.

Rock, who performed at the Hollywood Bowl on Tuesday, made a joke about the slap before Chappelle was charged on stage.

Rock came back on stage after the altercation and joked about the attacker,

"maybe being Will Smith. You know, they were like, 'Is that Will Smith?'"


Celebrities have since begun to weigh in on the attack. Comedian Tony Baker tweeted about the incident,

"This attacking people on stage ain't gon fly,"

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