During his Tuesday night (5.03) performance at the Hollywood Bowl comedian Dave Chappelle was tackled to the ground before security guards chased and overpowered the attacker.
According to authorities on scene, the assailant, Isaiah Lee, 23, was carrying a replica handgun with a knife blade inside and Officer Alba Mendez, a Los Angeles Police Department said the man was detained and arrested for assault with a deadly weapon.
After being treated by medical staff for an unspecified injury, Lee was booked into the Hollywood Division jail at 3:36 a.m. Wednesday and held in lieu of $30,000 bail.
Chappelle was performing his standup act at the amphitheater as part of the “Netflix Is a Joke” festival when the man rushed on stage and tackled him. Jamie Foxx was in the wings of the stage and Chappelle thanked him for responding to the attack. Chris Rock was also present, and jokingly asked if the attacker was Will Smith. As irony would have it, Chappelle was attacked while he was wrapping up a routine about how comedians have to worry more about their personal security in the wake of this year’s Academy Awards ceremony where the Oscar-winning actor slapped Rock on live television in reaction to a joke about his wife.
“The comedian had literally just said he now has more security because of all the uproar from his jokes about the Trans community,” tweeted Buzzfeed News reporter Brianna Sacks, who attended the show and tweeted that “while the attacker was getting beat up,” Chappelle “made a joke about him probably being a Trans man.”
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Author: Saul Goode
Photo: Raph_PH