Comedian Dave Chappelle had quite the scare when he was attacked on stage at the Netflix Is A Joke comedy festival, and considering what his assailant was found with, it’s very fortunate that things didn’t turn out much worse. Per BBC News, Chappelle’s attacker has been identified as 23-year-old Isaiah Lee, Authorities say that Lee was armed with a replica handgun that contained a hidden blade, and the discovery upgrade what would have been an assault charge to assault with a deadly weapon. A spokesperson speaking on behalf of the LAPD said of the incident:

Footage of the incident was captured by people in attendance and the videos have been going viral on social media. Lee can be seen charging Chappelle and taking him to the floor in the footage before the assailant was tackled and removed by security. Chappelle later joked about how he “stomped” his attacker backstage, though it’s not exactly clear what happened once Lee was out of view. He was treated at a local hospital for injuries before he was booked and placed behind bars.

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There have been many comparisons made to what happened at the Oscars with Will Smith, the first of which came directly from Chris Rock. As Rock happened to be present at the festival, he jokingly asked if that “was Will Smith” who attacked Chappelle. That’s a clear reference to Smith smacking Rock on stage during the Academy Awards, though no criminal charges were filed in that incident, reportedly because Rock declined to do so.

These kinds of attacks are also nothing new, unfortunately. Another famous incident happened in 2019 when WWE legend Bret “The Hitman” Hart, a cancer and stroke survivor who was 61 years old at the time, was tackled by a man on live television. At the time, he was giving his acceptance speech for his induction into the WWE Hall of Fame alongside his late tag team partner Jim Neidhart.

It’s Unclear Why Dave Chappelle Was Attacked

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It’s currently unknown what Isaiah Lee’s motivation was for the alleged attack. Dave Chappelle has stirred a lot of controversy with his recent Netflix specials and it’s possible that Lee took exception to some of Chappelle’s comedy material. There’s any other number of reasons why something like this might occur, but it’s all speculation at this point, as officials have not yet determined an apparent motive.

Despite backlash against Chappelle, Netflix has stood by the comedian throughout it all. There had been protests staged in an effort to have his comedy specials removed from Netflix, specifically in regard to jokes about the LGBTQ+ community. Ultimately, the streamer stood by Chappelle, having since announced a new partnership that will see Chappelle producing four new specials featuring other veteran comics. Of course, Chappelle headlining the Netflix Is A Joke comedy festival only further strengthens that relationship.