LOS ANGELES – Comedian Dave Chappelle was tackled during a performance at the Hollywood Bowl Tuesday night. Security guards chased and overpowered the attacker, and Chappelle was able to continue his performance while the man was taken away in an ambulance.
NBC News reported that the Los Angeles Police Department early Wednesday said the man was carrying a fake gun with a real knife blade inside it. LAPD media relations made no official announcement of an arrest in the hours after the attack, and did not immediately respond to an Associated Press request for details.
Chappelle was performing his standup routine at the amphitheater as part of the “Netflix Is a Joke” festival when the man rushed on stage and tackled him. Jamie Foxx was in the wings of the stage and Chappelle thanked him for responding to the attack. Chris Rock was there as well, and jokingly asked if the attacker was Will Smith.
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Chappelle was attacked as he was wrapping up a routine in which he talked about how comedians have to worry more about their personal security in the wake of this year’s Academy Awards ceremony where the Oscar-winning actor slapped Rock on live television in reaction to a joke about his wife.
“The comedian had literally just said he now has more security because of all the uproar from his jokes about the Trans community,” tweeted Buzzfeed News reporter Brianna Sacks, who attended the show. She tweeted that “while the attacker was getting beat up,” Chappelle “made a joke about him probably being a Trans man.”
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