The attacker then gets up and tries to run off-stage before he is caught and tackled by what appear to be security personnel and members of Chappelle’s team.
Details of the incident are being pieced together as spectators’ mobile phones were supposed to have been confiscated before the event.Īccording to the snippets that have emerged so far, Chappelle appears to be largely unhurt and quickly regained his composure after the attack. “It was a trans man,” he tells the crowd later.Ĭomedian Chris Rock, who had performed a set earlier in the evening, came on stage with Chappelle just after the attack and said, “Was that Will Smith?”Ĭhappelle has been a controversial figure for his frequent jokes about transgender people and the perception that he is transphobic.Īctor Jamie Foxx is understood to have rushed on stage to help Chappelle and apprehend the attacker. Unconfirmed video shows Foxx responding: “I thought that was part of the show.” “Whenever you’re in trouble, Jamie Foxx will show up in a sheriff’s hat,” quipped Chappelle at the show’s curtain call. The incident has unfortunate echoes of Will Smith’s slap of comedian Chris Rock during the Oscars ceremony in March, and will likely raise questions about freedom of speech and the security of performers. In another unconfirmed phone video clip, Foxx is heard to say: “Listen, I just want to say this man is an absolute genius.
