The suspect, identified as Isaiah Lee, 23, has been charged with felony assault with a deadly weapon, a Los Angeles police spokesperson said. Chappelle was not injured in the attack.
Dave Chappelle was attacked onstage on Tuesday night by a man who ran up and tackled the stand-up comedian during a performance at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.
In video posted to social media, a man can be seen running onto the stage before leveling Chappelle as security officers race to intervene.
The Los Angeles Police Department confirmed the incident, telling NBC Los Angeles that man was armed with a replica gun that could eject a real knife blade when discharged correctly. It was unclear if he made an attempt to use the weapon.
The suspect, identified as Isaiah Lee, 23, has been charged with felony assault with a deadly weapon, an LAPD spokesperson said Wednesday. Lee’s bail is set at $30,000.
The LAPD said Lee was in the audience, then jumped onstage and attacked Chappelle just as he was about to leave. The comedian was performing at the “Dave Chappelle and Friends” show, which was part of the Netflix Is A Joke Festival.
Security guards hired for the show intervened and pulled the suspect off the comedian, before detaining him, police said. They said Lee sustained superficial injuries during the altercation and was taken to a hospital.
Chappelle was not injured in the attack, they said.
Brianna Sacks, a BuzzFeed News reporter who attended the show and witnessed the altercation, told NBC News she was left stunned after the suspect “charged and tackled Chappelle.”
She said both uniformed security workers and people in plainclothes appeared to rush to Chappelle’s aid and started “kicking and punching” the suspect in an assault that went on for several minutes.
She said Chappelle later continued the show, joking about the altercation. “It was a trans man,” he remarked, according to The Hollywood Reporter. (The gender identity of the attacker was not immediately known.)
But the incident appeared to have left some audience members in shock. “We all kind of stood there frozen,” Sacks said.
