A short time after the assault, Dave Chappelle was joined onstage by Chris Rock, who took the microphone and quipped, "Was that Will Smith?"
After comedian Dave Chappelle was attacked on stage during Netflix Is A Joke festival in Los Angeles, the streaming giant issued a statement strongly condemning the incident. "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," Netflix's spokesperson said.
The incident between Chappelle and the man occurred near the end of his evening appearance at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on Tuesday. The man accused of tackling comedian Dave Chappelle to the stage floor during a performance at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles was charged on Wednesday with felony assault with a deadly weapon.
A Los Angeles Police Department spokesperson said the suspect had in his possession a replica handgun containing a knife blade when he attacked Chappelle.
READ: Chris Rock addresses Will Smith slap incident for the FIRST time after Oscars 2022
A short time after the assault, Chappelle was joined onstage by fellow comic Chris Rock, who took the microphone and quipped, "Was that Will Smith?" - a reference to his own experience of being slapped by the Hollywood star during the live Oscars telecast on March 27.
Chappelle appeared to emerge unscathed from Tuesday's attack and went on with the show, ad-libbing jokes about the incident and about what happened to the suspect, who was seen being chased down onstage by security personnel.
Chappelle said it was fortunate his assailant was "clumsy," adding, "He's back there getting stomped," according to video footage of the altercation posted online by the celebrity news website TMZ.com.
Photos of the suspect seated on an ambulance gurney afterward showed his face visibly bruised and his right arm apparently dislocated or broken.
Police later identified him as 23-year-old Isaiah Lee, who was being held in jail on a $30,000 bond after being charged.
No court hearing was immediately scheduled for Lee, according to online jail records.
Video footage circulated during Chappelle's comedy set showing the man rushing onto the stage and tackling the performer to the ground. After the incident, in the later stage of the footage, the same man is then seen to be dragged away by security personnel and members of Chapelle's team.
A spokesperson for Chappelle's production company also issued a statement in the aftermath of the attack. "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," the statement read.
Controversies and Chappelle go hand in hand. His 2021 Netflix special 'The Closer' led to company walkouts and protests last October as he apparently targeted the LGBTQ+ community.
(With inputs from Reuters and ANI)
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 "Dave Chappelle/Reuters")
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