A representative of Dave Chappelle has released a statement addressing the onstage assault of the comedian on Tuesday night while he performed at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.
“As unfortunate and unsettling as the incident was, Chappelle went on with the show,” Carla Sims, Chappelle’s representative, said in a statement. “Jamie Foxx and Chris Rock helped calm the crowd with humor before Chappelle introduced the last and featured musical guests for the evening.”
The comedian is “fully cooperating with the active police investigation,” the statement said.
Chappelle was performing at the “Netflix Is A Joke” festival at the Hollywood Bowl on Tuesday when an attacker jumped onstage and tackled him to the ground. The attacker produced what was later discovered to be a replica handgun containing a knife blade, and pointed it at Chappelle, police said. Hollywood Bowl security officers intervened and took the man into custody.
The comedian continued to crack jokes after the incident and was joined onstage by fellow comedian Chris Rock, who quipped, “Was that Will Smith?” in a reference to his own onstage incident at the Oscars earlier this year.
The suspect in the attack, Isaiah Lee, was arrested on a charge of felony assault with a deadly weapon, the Los Angeles Police Department said in a news release.
“We care deeply about the safety of creators and we strongly defend the right of stand-up comedians to perform on stage without fear of violence,” a Netflix spokesperson told CNN in a statement.