It’s been quite a week for Dave Chappelle, who was attacked onstage at Los Angeles’ Hollywood Bowl, and although Jamie Foxx did a spot-on impression of the comedian describing the incident, Dave has also given his more accurate take. Granted, this wasn’t a totally serious take because Chappelle kept the jokes flowing in a secret comedy show, where he called his attacker “a homeless guy with leaves in his hair.”
Still, Chappelle did appear to step back a bit, according to The Hollywood Reporter, when he described how he persuaded the venue’s security team to let him speak with Isaiah Lee, who suffered arm injuries in a post-stage invasion scuffle. Chappelle asked Lee to explain his actions, and here’s how he described the discussion:
“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.
The Orange County District Attorney’s Office declined to press felony charges against Lee. Deadline reports that, instead, Lee has been charged (by the LA City Attorney’s Office) with four misdemeanors involving weapons possession, unauthorized stage access, and battery. You can watch that video announcement from LA City Attorney Mike Feuer below.
https://twitter.com/CityAttorneyLA/status/1522361205393747968
(Via The Hollywood Reporter & Deadline)