Comedian Dave Chappelle's recent performance at the Hollywood Bowl was quickly overshadowed when an audience member gained access to the stage and attacked the comedian in the middle of his set.
And now the comedian is once again generating controversy after defusing the chaos that ensued with a joke about trans people that has angered many LGBTQ+ people and allies.
After the knife-wielding man tackled Chappelle and was quickly subdued by security during his set at the Netflix Is a Joke Festival at Los Angeles' Hollywood Bowl, Chappelle joked to the audience the attacker was a trans man.
See video of the incident and the joke below.
Vamping while security took the assailant down backstage, Chappelle eased the tension with the audience with a number of jokes about the harrowing incident.
After wondering aloud where the attacker came from, Chappelle said:
"It was a trans man."
The comment was a reference to the infamous controversy regarding Chappelle's fall 2021 Netflix special The Closer.
In it Chappelle made a number of jokes about trans people that outraged many viewers and activists, including discussing trans people's genitals and claiming to be a TERF, or Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist.
The controversy resulted in several LGBTQ+ and allied employees at Netflix quitting and staging walkouts in protest of CEO Ted Sarandos' refusal to remove the special, and a wave of high-profile criticisms from Chappelle's fellow stars and comedians.
The joke at the Hollywood Bowl has put even more attention on what was a shocking incident where chaos briefly consumed.
The man who assaulted Chappelle, who was carrying a replica gun that contained a hidden knife, was thankfully quickly subdued by a retinue of security aided by fellow comedian Jamie Foxx, who was watching from the wings.
They began "punching and kicking the sh*t out of" the attacker according to BuzzFeed's Brianna Sacks, who attended the show.
Of Foxx's heroism, Chappelle quipped to the audience:
“Whenever you’re in trouble, Jamie Foxx will show up in a sheriff’s hat."
Foxx replied that, like most of the audience, he initially thought the attack was just part of Chappelle's set.
But the all-too-real nature of the attack became clear outside the venue, where several videos of the attacker being taken away in an ambulance with serious injuries exploded onto social media.
Just came out of the Hollywood Bowl where a man charged and tackled Dave Chapelle on stage and got his ass kicked by at least 10 people. \n\nLAPD and LAFD are now loading him into an ambulancepic.twitter.com/7SXPe9e8az— Brianna Sacks (@Brianna Sacks) 1651644752
The attacker, 23-year-old Isaiah Lee, is a rapper and supporter of former Republican President Donald Trump who rapped about attacking Chappelle at "the Bowl" in 2020, likely in reference to a performance that year that was canceled due to the pandemic. He has since been arrested.
As the initial shock of the incident has subsided, anger over Chappelle's joke about trans people has begun to take center stage.
Dave Chappelle joking that his attacker last night was a trans man is just gross. At least he's consistent though, and speaks transphobia with his whole chest. #TransLash @translashmediahttps://twitter.com/Esqueer_/status/1521807162695114752\u00a0\u2026— Imara Jones (@Imara Jones) 1651669555
Chappelle "joking" that the person who assaulted him was a trans man when it was in fact some pro Trump dude who hated Chappelle for completely unrelated reasons is really fucked up and I'm tired of people acting like his transphobia isn't spiteful at this point tbh— \ud83c\udff4\ud83e\udd9d Antifa Trash Panda - Pro Abortion \ud83e\udd9d\ud83c\udff4 (@\ud83c\udff4\ud83e\udd9d Antifa Trash Panda - Pro Abortion \ud83e\udd9d\ud83c\udff4) 1651688788
The attacker was NOT a "Trans Man". We already have enough targets on our backs without a stupid joke adding another one. Dave Chappelle attacked on stage & he immediately said the attacker was transhttps://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/05/dave-chappelle-attacked-stage-immediately-said-attacker-trans/?utm_source=LGBTQ+Nation+Subscribers&utm_campaign=37dace2959-20220504_LGBTQ_Nation_Daily_Brief&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c4eab596bd-37dace2959-431299001#.YnLxzasnfCE.twitter\u00a0\u2026— Shonn Sutton #IStandWithUkraine (@Shonn Sutton #IStandWithUkraine) 1651700313
All these people leave out the fact Dave Chappelle joked that it was a \u201ctrans man\u201d that ran on stage to beat him when we don\u2019t know who it was. All we know is that things are about to get worse in this country and have been getting worse for trans people and Dave encourages it— \u00c4lia Meth (@\u00c4lia Meth) 1651645335
"In video footage, Chappelle is seen to recover his composure and joke, \u201cIt was a trans man.\u201d\n\nFuck Dave Chappellehttps://twitter.com/THR/status/1521745551389249536\u00a0\u2026— naomi, knife's edge \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\u26a7\ufe0f\ud83c\udf0c\ud83d\udc19 (@naomi, knife's edge \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\u26a7\ufe0f\ud83c\udf0c\ud83d\udc19) 1651647587
If you think I'm going to feel sorry for that transphobe Dave Chappelle, please don't. \n\nThe moment security protects him from the attack, he immediately jokes it was a transgender man (it wasn't) -- but it's clear he will continue to put a target on trans people regardless.— Ernest Owens (@Ernest Owens) 1651664961
dave chappelle is a boring old man whose obsession with trans people gets more and more bizarre each day. it\u2019s just not interesting or clever at all.— caleb hearon (@caleb hearon) 1651701243
Chappelle gets attacked and... In video footage after the attack, Chappelle is seen to recover his composure and joke, \u201cIt was a trans man\u201d\n\nLeave the trans community alone FFS - bullshit/words like this are why the trans community are the most victimised, assaulted and abused https://twitter.com/THR/status/1521745551389249536\u00a0\u2026— Saba Ali FRSA (she/her) (@Saba Ali FRSA (she/her)) 1651654740
Nothing about the Dave Chappelle attack is fun. The attack itself. The beatdown. The \u201ctrans man\u201d quip. The reaction on twitter. It all just sucks.— Washington Post TikTok Guy \ud83e\udee0 (@Washington Post TikTok Guy \ud83e\udee0) 1651662623
Dave Chappelle saying it was a Trans man that attacked him was so unnecessary and nonsense. It was a Cishet Black man that is a TRUMP SUPPORTER (LOL) that has had some type of specific hatred for Dave for years— Jason (Recast T'Challa) (@Jason (Recast T'Challa)) 1651704226
Chappelle has chosen not to comment on the controversy, focusing instead on what was a record-breaking performance at which he tied Monty Python's record for the most headlined shows by a comedian at the Hollywood Bowl.
Via his rep, Chappelle said, "he refuses to allow last night’s incident to overshadow the magic of this historic moment."
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung presenting U.S. President Donald Trump with honors and gifts at the Gyeongju National Museum in Gyeongju on October 29, 2025.Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images
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