Dave Chappelle is never far away from controversy, and the comedian is hitting the headlines once again after being attacked on stage by an armed audience member, during a performance at the Netflix is a Joke comedy festival on May 3, 2022 in Los Angeles.
The event, taking place at the Hollywood Bowl arena, is a city-wide comedy festival sponsored by the streaming service Netflix. The festival saw big names like Black Star, Chris Rock, Jon Stewart, Busta Rhymes, Jeff Ross, and Jimmy Carr take to the stage, as well as Chappelle.
Viral videos on social media taken at the event, have shown a man rushing the stage to attack Chappelle during his comedy set, before being apprehended by law enforcement and security. Reports suggest the suspect was armed with both a gun and a knife, but Chappelle escaped the situation unharmed. The comedian even managed to make a distasteful joke to the audience about the attacker being a “trans man,” in reference to offensive comments about the LGBTQ+ community Chappelle made in his recent Netflix comedy special The Closer.
At the end of the festival, Chappelle returned to the stage and thanked actor Jamie Foxx, who was apparently one of the people that rushed the stage to protect Chappelle. “Whenever you’re in trouble, Jamie Foxx will show up in a sheriff’s hat,” joked Chappelle.
Foxx returned the love, saying “This man is an absolute genius. We’ve got to make sure we protect him at all times. You’re a legend. I enjoyed myself thoroughly, and we’re not going to let nothing happen to you.”
Dave Chappelle just got attacked on stage
— Hoodville (@Hoodville_) May 4, 2022
Inevitably, the infamous Will Smith and Chris Rock fiasco was dredged up, due to the nature of an on-stage incident being reminiscent of the slap at the Oscars. Rock was in attendance at the Netflix event, and joked, “Was that Will Smith?”
This marks just another in a long line of sticky situations that Chappelle has put streaming giant Netflix in, after a multitude of attacks on the trans community and controversial comments in the recent past. Admittedly, this one isn’t necessarily Chappelle’s fault as such, but it does beg the question of how long this collaboration will continue.