Comedian Dave Chappelle Tackled On Stage By Woke Attacker
Keneci Channel
According to Los Angeles Police Department LAPD, Isaiah Lee, 23, was taken into custody Tuesday night after tackling the comedian during his performance at the Hollywood Bowl.
A cellphone camera in the audience captured the moment the man ran on stage and tackled Chappelle. The comedian fell back but managed to quickly free himself as security rushed out to grab the attacker, police said.
Chappelle and the attacker who was armed with a replica handgun-knife, tussled on the stage floor before Security staff surrounded and tackled him in the rear corner of the stage.
The LAPD released photos of the replica whose knife blade extends outward from underneath the gun's barrel. "The replica handgun, which contained a knife blade, was recovered and booked as evidence," police said in a statement.
According to an eyewitness, the attacker got up and started running, as a swarm of people went after him. He was running around the screen on the stage when, "the mob caught up with him and beat the crap out of him, stomping on him," the eyewitness said. Actor and singer Jamie Foxx and rapper Busta Rhymes were reportedly at the scene.
Footage circulating online captured the attacker on a gurney as he was being loaded into an ambulance to be taken to a hospital for unspecified injuries.
Chappelle was not injured in the attack, and reportedly continued with his act, telling the audience, "It was a trans man!"
The comedian also joked: "I don't know if that was part of the show. I grabbed the back of that nigga's head, his hair was spongy, absorbent."
Stand-up comic Chris Rock was one of the special guests at the event. He walked on stage and hugged Chappelle, joking: "Was that Will Smith?" In reference to when he himself was slapped by Will Smith on the Oscars stage.
According to LAPD records, Lee was booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and is being held on $30,000 bail. It's unclear what motivated him to attack Chappelle.
In a statement Wednesday, Chappelle's spokeswoman Carla Sims said:
"Dave Chappelle celebrated four nights of comedy and music, setting record-breaking sales for a comedian at the Hollywood Bowl. This run ties Chappelle with Monty Python for the most headlined shows by any comedian at the Hollywood Bowl, reaching 70k fans of diverse backgrounds during the first Netflix Is A Joke: The Festival, and he refuses to allow last night's incident to overshadow the magic of this historic moment.
As unfortunate and unsettling as the incident was, Chappelle went on with the show. Jamie Foxx and Chris Rock helped calm the crowd with humor before Chappelle introduced the last and featured musical guests for the evening, hip-hop artists yasiin bey and Talib Kweli, a.k.a. Black Star, who performed music from their new album - the first in nearly 24 years - which was released on Luminary. Other special comedic guests last night included Earthquake, Leslie Jones, Jeff Ross, Sebastian, Jon Stewart and Michelle Wolf."
The Tuesday show is part of a new special that Chappelle is filming for streaming giant Netflix.
Netflix said in a brief statement: "We care deeply about the safety of creators and we strongly defend the right of stand-up comedians to perform on stage without fear of violence."
WATCH the moment the attacker rushed Chappelle on stage at Hollywood Bowl