Dave Chappelle was performing at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles as part of the Netflix Is A Joke Festival on Tuesday night (May 3) when he was attacked onstage.
Footage circulating on social media shows a man rushing the stage and charging toward Chappelle in an attempt to tackle him. The comedian, who is believed to be unhurt, managed to stay on his feet as the man went hurtling toward the ground.
It’s unclear what prompted the attack, but things didn’t end well for the culprit. Another video shows the man getting beaten up by a group of at least 10 people behind a screen at the back of the stage.
The attacker was later loaded into an ambulance, with various clips showing his face bruised and swollen and his right elbow twisted backwards as he sat on a stretcher.
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According to KABC‘s Stephanie Walsh, the man was reportedly armed with a gun and a knife and was taken into police custody.
The attack happened toward the end of Chappelle’s set, just moments after he revealed he’d increased his security because of the backlash to his jokes about the trans community, per BuzzFeed News reporter Brianna Sacks.
As his security continued beating up the man, Chappelle returned to the mic and addressed the incident, joking about the attacker being a “trans man.”
Chappelle was later joined onstage by Jamie Foxx. “Whenever you in trouble, Jamie Foxx will show up in a sheriff’s hat,” Chappelle quipped. “N-gga, I thought that was part of the show. I grabbed the back of that n-gga’s head. His hair was spongy, absorbent.”
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He added, “N-gga, I’ve been doing this 35 years. I just stomped a n-gga backstage. Always wanted to do that.”
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Foxx then joked, “I’m back there squeezing that n-gga, too,” before Chappelle said, “I seen Busta Rhymes there and he was like, ‘That’s how you do it, God.'”
Chris Rock — who was one of several special guests during Chappelle’s show — also returned to the stage after the attack and joked, “Was that Will Smith?” (Rock was slapped in the face by Smith at the 2022 Oscars in March.)
