Dave Chappelle revealed Thursday night during a Los Angeles show why a man ran on stage earlier in the week and attacked the comedian.
Performing at The Comedy Store two night’s after the attack, Chappelle explained, per The Hollywood Reporter, how he convinced security to allow him to talk to the attacker, 23-year-old Isiah Lee.
“I needed to talk to him,” Chappelle said.
“He asked Lee what possibly could have prompted his attack, to which Lee — who Chappelle said appeared to him to be mentally ill — offered a story about his grandmother from Brooklyn, who had been forced out of her neighborhood by gentrification. The attack was meant to draw attention to her plight, Chappelle recounted.”
Chris Rock, who at the performance Tuesday during the attack, was present for the Thursday show, too.
“At least you got smacked by someone of repute!” Chappelle joked to Rock. “I got smacked by a homeless guy with leaves in his hair.”
Rock responded, “I got smacked by the softest n—a that ever rapped.”
A Chappelle representative called the attack “unsettling” earlier this week.
He was tackled during a performance at the Hollywood Bowl on Tuesday night and a man was later arrested.
“As unfortunate and unsettling as the incident was, Chappelle went on with the show,” Carla Sims, Chappelle’s representative, said in a statement to CNN. “Jamie Foxx and Chris Rock helped calm the crowd with humor before Chappelle introduced the last and featured musical guests for the evening.”
Lee was carrying a replica handgun with a large blade that folded out of it similar to a pocket knife.
Security guards overpowered the attacker, and Chappelle continued his performance while the man was taken away in an ambulance.
Lee, 23, was detained and arrested for assault with a deadly weapon, said Officer Alba Mendez, a Los Angeles Police Department spokesperson.
Mark Heim is a reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim.
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