Dave Chappelle has revealed he spoke to Isaiah Lee, the 23-year-old who’s alleged to have jumped on stage during his Hollywood Bowl set and tackled the comedian to the ground.
Addressing the crowd during a secret comedy gig in LA on Thursday, 5 May, Chappelle, 48, said he managed to convince security to let him approach Lee after the incident and before he was taken away by police.
Explaining that he ‘needed to talk to him’, Chappelle said Lee started telling him a story about his grandmother, who he said was forced out of her Brooklyn neighbourhood by gentrification.
According to Hollywood Reporter, Lee said his stage-rush was supposed to spotlight his gran’s situation.
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It follows Lee's older brother Aaron’s claims that his sibling is mentally ill and takes medication.
Speaking to Rolling Stone in an interview published on Wednesday, Aaron Lee said: “I don’t have anything negative to say about Isaiah. He’s a performing artist who tries to stay as positive as possible.
“He does have a history of mental health issues. He does take medicine. Maybe he missed out on taking his prescription. But he’s not the type to just lash out. I don’t understand.”
Aaron also claimed his younger brother had been in and out of Hollywood shelters in the past.
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The incident occurred while Chappelle was performing on stage at Netflix Is A Joke: The Festival in Los Angeles earlier this month, and it has since dominated headlines.
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Brianna Sacks, a reporter at the show, described how Lee 'charged' just as Chappelle's show was coming to an end, after which security 'rushed and started punching and kicking the s*** out of Dave’s attacker'.
Elsewhere, Los Angeles-based journalist Sharon Carpenter told the PA news agency: “It looked like someone dashed from the side of the stage, lunged at Dave, and all I saw was Dave basically flying in the air.
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“He fell backwards onto his back, with his arms and legs up in the air. He was obviously in shock. We were all in shock.
"And I thought for a moment ‘OK, is this a prank?’ because they had made some Will Smith jokes.
“Even though Chris Rock was there, Dave was making some jokes, it was fair game, right?
"He was making some jokes about the situation.”
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It was announced on Wednesday that Lee had been charged with the assault, with LA police telling NBC the suspect was armed with a replica gun that had an ejectable knife blade inside at the time.
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Aisha Nozari