Dave Chappelle was attacked on stage while performing at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles Tuesday, according to multiple reports and audience footage from the event.
The comedian, 48, was performing a set for the Netflix Is A Joke Festival when an audience member stormed the stage, lunged at Chappelle and tackled him to the ground, video on social media shows. Security immediately rushed to the stage and chased the attacker behind a screen.
Security detained the person who was later escorted from the venue in a stretcher and was taken to the hospital, according to NBC and NPR. Chappelle was not injured.
USA TODAY reached out to representatives for Netflix Is A Joke, Chappelle and Los Angeles police.
Buzzfeed reporter Briana Sacks, who attended the festival, tweeted about the altercation saying the person tackled Chappelle “to the ground” after the comedian previously talked about how he had to beef up his security in light of his controversial jokes about the trans community in Netflix special “The Closer.”
“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,” Sacks tweeted.
Chappelle joked that the attacker “was a trans man” after security detained them, according to social media video.
Chris Rock who performed earlier that day joined Chappelle on stage and joked, “Was that Will Smith,” according to NPR, referring to the Oscars incident when Smith slapped Rock on stage after he made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith.
Chappelle’s recent comedy special received backlash, even spurring walkouts from Netflix employees.
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The comedian sparked outrage and debate after he made remarks about the LGBTQ+ community, specifically the transgender community. In the special, Chappelle attempted to juxtapose the pace of civil rights gained by LGBTQ people over those fought for by the Black community and expressed solidarity with “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling, who drew backlash in 2019 for comments about gender.
Contributing: Charles Trepany
