Isaiah Lee, the man who was caught on camera charging comedian Dave Chappelle during a live performance at the Hollywood Bowl earlier this month, has now revealed a motive for his alleged attack: jokes.
Speaking with the New York Post, Lee not only revealed that he identifies as bisexual but that he decided to charge Dave Chappelle due to his “triggering” jokes that some in the LGBTQ community have found offensive.
“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.”
According to Lee, he attended the Netflix is a Joke show at the Hollywood Bowl on May 3 for the entertainment value until he grew angry and frustrated over jokes Chappelle made knocking LGBTQ snowflakes as well as homelessness.
“I’m also a single dad and my son is five,” the 23-year-old Lee said. “It’s a struggle and I wanted Dave Chappelle to know it’s not a joke.”
Lee claims his breaking point occurred when another comedian cracked a joke about pedophilia.
When he charged the stage, Dave Chappelle’s security team immediately jumped Lee and beat him to the point of inflicting serious injury.
Upon his arrest, police discovered that Lee had been armed with a replica handgun with a retractable knife inside. Lee has claimed he carried the weapon for self-defense purposes and that he never meant to kill Chappelle that night. Though he has not been charged with a felony for the Chappelle assault (something the comedian’s legal team has strongly criticized), Lee was charged with attempted murder this past Friday for allegedly attempting to stab his roommate in December of last year.
The attack on Dave Chappelle came weeks after actor Will Smith rushed the stage during the Oscars telecast and slapped comedian Chris Rock for cracking a joke about his wife’s haircut. Comedians have since said Smith set the precedent for hecklers to attack comedians whose jokes abruptly “trigger” them.
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“I thought that that opened the flood gates,” Howie Mandel said. “We’re already as comedians being attacked as far as being canceled for something that you don’t like, something that you find offensive, something that you think is too soon.”
“You saw what happened at the Academy Awards, and I thought that just triggers — violence triggers violence. And I think this is the beginning of the end for comedy,” Mandel added.
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