The art of humor is in danger, and so are the comedians! Recent attacks on comics have put free speech in jeopardy. On Tuesday, in the unfortunate turn of events, Comedian Dave Chapelle was attacked. He was performing his stand-up set at Los Angeles’ Hollywood Bowl. A young man, Isaiah Lee tackled Dave Chappelle with a fake gun that contained a knife in it. An assault on a comedian did not take place for the first time. During the 94th Academy Awards, Will Smith slapped Chris Rock on stage. Rock made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s alopecia condition which enraged Smith. It led to a string of extreme reactions. Many people reacted to Chappelle’s incident, but in a recently leaked audio, we could hear Dave Chappelle reacting to the situation.
“I Felt Good My Friends Broke His Arm”- Dave Chappelle Thank Friends
The comedian did not seem flinched post the on-stage assault. On Wednesday, Dave came out to respond to the events that unfolded during his stand-up gig in Los Angeles’ Hollywood Bowl. He ‘refuses’ to let the incident overshadow his show and that he is working with the police to bring his attacker to justice. The situation may have escalated as the young man was carrying a knife blade in a replica gun.
BREAKING : full video of @DaveChappelle attack from @TMZ pic.twitter.com/dtS3rNntSs
— ArT (@RaiDeR53StRoNg) May 4, 2022
As Isaiah tried to assault Chappelle, his friends and security personnel took him backstage and beat him up. Chappelle continued with his show and in his signature, witty style told the audience, “He’s back there getting stomped.” Dave Chappelle arranged an after-party with rapper Busta Rhymes. In leaked audio from the party, we could hear the comedian thanking his fellow mates. He said, “I felt good. My friends broke his arm. I felt good. How bad does a n**** have to be that Joe Stewart would stomp him! I’m proud of…”
Chapelle was happy that the guy’s arm was broken as he thinks “Killing that n**** would have been stupid.” He continued, “I couldn’t believe that they were my friends because it is good and what they do get out. It’s all a luminary right now, you should listen. Those are very powerful friends and I’m sharing [this night] with people I love very much.” Along with comedians, owners of Comedy Clubs across America are fearful post the Will Smith-Chris Rock altercation. Dani Zoldan, owner of Stand Up New York Comedy Club expressed his concerns.
He said, “I feel like there was an invisible fence around comedians, right? People just didn’t breach the invisible fence. Comedians can make jokes whether they were offensive or not. People didn’t attack the stage, they were always heckling and actions were taken by clubs when people heckled – they would be given a warning, they would be thrown out of the club. But never did we see before what happened at the Oscars … That was just insane.”
Also Read: Howie Mandel Says He Is Concerned About Comedy’s Future Post The Dave Chappelle Assault
