On Thursday’s episode of “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” Kevin Hart stated that it was crucial for the man who assaulted Dave Chappelle to be beaten up in front of the world.
On Tuesday, it was reported that a man attempted to attack Chappelle while he was performing at the Hollywood Bowl as part of the Netflix Is a Joke comedy festival. The man was then discovered to be carrying a knife-wielding plastic fake pistol.
Chappelle’s security team was seen tackling the attacker, ultimately breaking his arm.
“Somebody ran onstage and got their ass whooped,” Hart said. “Not scary. It’s one of those things that needed to happen, though…do you want people to continue to think that they can cross that line and break the barrier of entertainer [and audience]? Somebody getting their ass whooped sends a message out to other people like, ‘You know, I was thinking about doing that. But after seeing that, I don’t want to do that.’”
He said, “I think that the world that we’re in right now — there are a lot of lines that are being blurred, and sometimes you gotta take a lot of steps back to take a step forward…I think it’s time to get back to a place of respect for your live entertainer and understand that you’re coming to a show.”
Isiah Lee, 23, was detained on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon hours after the incident.
On Thursday, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office stated that Lee would not be charged with a felony.
According to court documents, Lee was charged with four misdemeanor offenses, including battery, assault with a weapon, unauthorized access to the stage area during a performance, and commission of an act that causes the performance to be delayed or interfered with.
