NEWSDave Chappelle Under Fire For Joking A 'Trans Man' Attacked Him On Stage
Dave Chappelle may have just taken a hit, but he's now taking a beating from online users after joking that a "trans man" attacked him on stage Tuesday night.
After an audience member stormed the stage at Hollywood Bowl with a fake prop gun and tackled the performer in the middle of his performance, Chappelle turned to his audience and said: "It was a trans man!"
DAVE CHAPPELLE ATTACKED ON STAGE, AUDIENCE MEMBER PULLS GUN ON COMEDIAN: WATCH NOW
The altercation took place on Tuesday, May 3, during the "Netflix Is a Joke" festival and was filmed by multiple attendees, who captured the funnyman's controversial comment.
“Leave the trans community alone FFS [for f**k’s sake] — bulls**t/words like this are why the trans community are the most victimized, assaulted and abused,” one Twitter user seethed.
"If you think I’m going to feel sorry for that transphobe Dave Chappelle, please don’t," another critic wrote on the social media platform. "The 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."
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A third added: "Dave Chappelle was attacked on stage and the first thing he does is make a joke blaming trans people. I’m glad he’s ok but f**k Dave Chappelle," while one more chimed in, "Nothing about the Dave Chappelle attack is fun. The attack itself. The beatdown. The ‘trans man’ quip. The reaction on twitter. It all just sucks."
As OK! reported, the man accused of attacking Chappelle was a 23-year-old named Isaiah Lee, who was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon. Lee is being held on $30,000 bail.
According to Page Six, the attacker stormed the stage moments after the 48-year-old joked that he needed to amp up his security team following his remarks last year about the transgender community.
Chappelle previously came under fire for a comment he made in his Netflix special The Closer, released in October 2021, in which he sided with J.K. Rowling's take on trans woman, saying he is "team TERF," an acronym for "trans-exclusionary radical feminist" used to describe people who believe a trans woman’s gender identity is not legitimate.
And while he faced backlash for his documentary, Chappelle wasn't worried about being "canceled" at the time. "If this is what being cancelled is about, I love it," Chappelle said to his audience after critics demanded his special be pulled from the streaming giant. "I don’t know what to tell you, except I’m a bad motherf**ker."
