On Tuesday night, Dave Chappelle was attacked at the Hollywood Bowl while performing at the Netflix is a Joke comedy festival.
Fortunately, Chappelle was not injured as 23-year-old Isaiah Lee rushed the stage and tackled Chappelle in the middle of a stand-up routine. He is currently being held on a $30,000 dollar bond but the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office declined to press felony charges against him. According to Deadline, the case has been sent to the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office for possible misdemeanor charges.
Beyoncé & Jay-Z Rushed Back Stage After Dave Chappelle Attack
According to Page Six, Beyoncé, Jay-Z, and Elon Musk were all in the front row to watch Chappelle’s routine when he was attacked on stage. Apparently, the power couple had spent time backstage before joining the audience to watch Chappelle’s performance.
“They were seated in the front row along with Elon Musk when Chappelle was attacked at his show,” a source told the outlet. “There was no security near them at the time. That crazy guy could have easily turned around and decided to attack Beyoncé instead.”
The witness said that “Everyone freaked out that a man rushed the stage with what looked like a gun.” However, the couple was reportedly “more concerned about Dave. Beyoncé gasped in horror, then their security came racing over to usher them to a safe backstage area, which was immediately locked down.”
Apparently, Madonna, Busta Rhymes, A$AP Rocky, and a very pregnant Rihanna were also seen backstage but were not involved in the incident.
Chappelle was also fortunately unharmed in the incident, even though the man was apparently wielding a plastic gun that housed a knife. A photo of the weapon can be seen below.
According to Deadline, the District Attorney’s Office released a statement saying, “After reviewing the evidence, prosecutors determined that while criminal conduct occurred, the evidence as presented did not constitute felony conduct. The District Attorney’s Office does not prosecute misdemeanor crimes within the city of Los Angeles.” They also said that the man had the weapon in his hand while he rushed the stage to attack Chappelle.
BuzzFeed Reporter Posts Footage Of The Incident To Twitter
Just came out of the Hollywood Bowl where a man charged and tackled Dave Chapelle on stage and got his ass kicked by at least 10 people.
LAPD and LAFD are now loading him into an ambulance pic.twitter.com/7SXPe9e8az
— Brianna Sacks (@bri_sacks) May 4, 2022
BuzzFeed News reporter Brianna Sacks was actually at the event and posted a clip outside the venue. “Just came out of the Hollywood Bowl where a man charged and tackled Dave Chappelle on stage and got his a—kicked by at least 10 people,” she reported. “LAPD and LAFD are now loading him into an ambulance.”
Just came out of the Hollywood Bowl where a man charged and tackled Dave Chapelle on stage and got his ass kicked by at least 10 people.
LAPD and LAFD are now loading him into an ambulance pic.twitter.com/7SXPe9e8az
— Brianna Sacks (@bri_sacks) May 4, 2022
“The show was just ending when the man hopped onto stage and ran at Chapelle, form tackling him to the ground. The comedian had literally just said he now has more security because of all the uproar from his jokes about the Trans community,” she continued.
“Security et al rushed and started punching and kicking the shit out of Chapelle’s attacker. He was just about to bring on Talib Kweli and Mos Def for the encode and we in the crowd were like what the f— is going on,” she went on. “Chapelle kept on while the guy was getting beat in the back.”
“Sheer chaos,” she noted. “Then Jamie Fox comes out in a cowboy hat, looking absolutely shocked, and Chapelle makes a joke about stomping the guy, who is still getting beat up. kweli and Mos Def do their set while LAPD cruisers start arriving behind the stage. F—ing wild.”
When we got out of the Bowl and got our phones out, LAPD and medics were cordoning off the area and then loaded Chapelle’s attacker, who looked to be strapped in a jacket in a chair, into an ambulance. Members of the crowd cussed him out pic.twitter.com/qioX8aH5Vq
— Brianna Sacks (@bri_sacks) May 4, 2022
“When we got out of the Bowl and got our phones out, LAPD and medics were cordoning off the area and then loaded Chapelle’s attacker, who looked to be strapped in a jacket in a chair, into an ambulance. Members of the crowd cussed him out,” she added, showing more footage of the incident.
“What is really surreal about this is that Chapelle talked about Chris Rock and the slap/new reality facing comedians/having more security with him and his wife being worried about him now,” she added. “He did a whole bit about a crazy man coming to his house and chasing him down in his car.”
“While the attacked was getting beat up, Chapelle made a joke about him probably being a Trans man,” she said, attaching a clip of the event.
Clip of that here https://t.co/rmXK0qqpVL
— Brianna Sacks (@bri_sacks) May 4, 2022
She concluded her Twitter thread by saying, “What was also wild was that Chris Rock performed at the #NetflixIsAJoke Chapelle show (he was fantastic) and joked about what happened to him. After Chapelle got attacked, he [came] on stage and they joked that it was Will Smith.”
