The man accused of attacking comedian Dave Chappelle earlier this month during a live performance at the Hollywood Bowl claims that he was “triggered” by Chappelle’s jokes.
Isaiah Lee, 23, of Los Angeles, was charged after the May 3 incident with assault with a deadly weapon.
Lee told the New York Post during a jailhouse interview that the comedian needs to be more “sensitive” about making fun of people.
“I identify as bisexual … and I wanted him to know what he said was triggering,” Lee said. “I wanted him to know that next time, he should consider first running his material by people it could affect.”
Lee said that he was triggered during the event as Chappelle made light of previous times that he has made fun of the LGBT community.
“It’s a struggle and I wanted Dave Chappelle to know it’s not a joke,” Lee said.
After video showed Lee allegedly attacking Chappelle on stage, Chappelle said, “I am going to kill that n*****.”
“It was a trans man,” Chappelle continued as the audience burst out into laughter.
Someone rushed the stage and attacked Dave Chappelle during his Hollywood Bowl performance … and the surreal moment was caught on video. https://t.co/kFf1BvJDvt pic.twitter.com/tQzrt6tMLj
— TMZ (@TMZ) May 4, 2022
Chappelle was doing a stand-up routine for the Netflix Is a Joke festival when the attack happened.
Netflix responded to the incident by saying in a statement, “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.”
Lee was charged with attempted murder last week stemming from a separate incident late last year in which he is accused of stabbing his roommate.
“The publicity generated by the attack on Mr. Chappelle helped police solve this crime,” said District Attorney George Gascón. “The incident that occurred at the Hollywood Bowl was misdemeanor conduct and rightfully referred to the City Attorney’s Office. Based on the nature and severity of the December attack, Mr. Lee is now facing felony charges which my office will prosecute.”
Netflix made news waves earlier this month after it released a new corporate culture memo that fired a warning shot at those in the company who are offended by the streaming service’s content.
The updated Netflix Culture memo includes a new section called “Artistic Expression” that states that it will not “censor specific artists or voices” even if employees consider the content “harmful.”
“If you’d find it hard to support our content breadth, Netflix may not be the best place for you,” the memo states, later adding that employees may be required to work on projects that they “perceive to be harmful” and that if they have a hard time accepting their work assignment, they might want to consider working somewhere else.
“Entertaining the world is an amazing opportunity and also a challenge because viewers have very different tastes and points of view. So we offer a wide variety of TV shows and movies, some of which can be provocative,” the new section reads, later adding, “we support the artistic expression of the creators we choose to work with” and that “we let viewers decide what’s appropriate for them, versus having Netflix censor specific artists or voices.”