Dave Chappelle attacked during Netflix comedy festival in Los Angeles
(Credit: Netflix / Mathieu Bitton)

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Dave Chappelle attacked during Netflix comedy festival in Los Angeles

Dave Chappelle was attacked on stage while performing his set at the Netflix Is A Joke comedy festival in Los Angeles.

The controversial stand-up was headlining the famous Hollywood Bowl when an audience member jumped on stage to attack him. Thankfully, the security team quickly rushed to his aid and dragged away the perpetrator. Chappelle was left unharmed by the incident and later joked the attacker was “a trans man”, which led to more criticism online from the trans community.

The incident follows Chappelle’s Netflix special, The Closer, which was heavily slammed for being transphobic. In the film, Chappelle questioned whether trans women are “real women” and later supported the author of the Harry Potter franchise, J.K. Rowling, who herself came under criticism amid controversial views on the subject.

Chappelle’s comments led to a massive outrage online from the queer community and their allies. His remarks even prompted a mass employee walk-out outside the headquarters of the streaming service in Los Angeles last October 1st.

The event at the Netflix Is A Joke comedy festival was billed as ‘Dave Chappelle & Friends’ and featured other comedians such as Chris Rock, Leslie Jones, Michelle Wolf, Sebastian Maniscalco, Jon Stewart, and Jimmy Carr.

During his set, Rock also referenced the attack by saying: “Was that Will Smith?”. Earlier this year at the 2022 Oscars ceremony, Smith walked on stage, slapped Rock across the face and later bore the brunt of criticism after the act of violence.

Meanwhile, Carr was recently condemned for his comments about the Holocaust in His Dark Material, leading to public outrage. Following the show at the Hollywood Bowl, he shared a picture with Chappelle on Twitter, expressing how relieved he was to see “everyone’s ok”.

Watch footage of the incident below.