FILE – Dave Chappelle appears during the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Oct. 30, 2021, in Cleveland. Chappelle was tackled during a …
Dave Chappelle appears during the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Oct. 30, 2021, in Cleveland. Chappelle was tackled during a performance at the Hollywood Bowl Tuesday, May 3, 2022. Security guards chased and overpowered the attacker, and Chappelle was able to continue his performance while the man was taken away in an ambulance. (AP Photo/David Richard, File)
The man charged with attacking Dave Chappelle while he was performing on stage earlier this month said the comedian’s show at the Hollywood Bowl in California was “triggering.”
Isaiah Lee, who is charged with assault with a deadly weapon after he tackled Chappelle while holding a replica gun that could eject a blade, told The New York Post in an exclusive interview that he was triggered by the comedian’s jokes on the LGBTQ community and homelessness.
“I identify as bisexual… and I wanted him to know what he said was triggering,” Lee told journalists from his cell at Twin Towers Correctional Facility in Los Angeles. “I wanted him to know that next time, he should consider first running his material by people it could affect.”
Lee, 23, said he is a single father who has experienced homelessness before and that Chappelle’s jokes went too far that night.
“It’s a struggle and I wanted Dave Chappelle to know it’s not a joke,” he told the Post. Lee allegedly tackled Chappelle at the beginning of May at the Hollywood Bowl during the comedian’s performance for the “Netflix is a Joke” festival. Security officers quickly detained Lee and, he says, broke his arm and gave him black eyes. A day after the event, a judge ordered Lee to be held on a $30,000 bail. Lee told The New York Post he did have a replica handgun when he tackled Chappelle, but the weapon was not pulled out when he rushed the stage. He says he did not want to harm Chappelle and he also spoke to the outlet about a history of sexual abuse. Lee, an aspiring rapper under the name of “noname_trapper” who once released a song called “Dave Chapell,” is also facing separate charges for the attempted murder of a roommate in Los Angeles in December, which he has pleaded not guilty to.
