Naughty Gossip

Always a pinch, never a punch!

Dave Chappelle Tackled While Performing Onstage at Hollywood Bowl

by

Comedian Dave Chappelle was attacked while performing on stage Tuesday at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.

Video footage shows a man rushing on to the stage and tackling the performer to the ground during the Netflix is a Joke comedy festival, for which Chappelle has performed a number of dates at the Hollywood Bowl in the last month. 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.

Video footage of the incident is sparse because guests’ mobile phones were supposed to have been inaccessible to them during the performance. (The Hollywood Bowl website indicates that attendees’ phones were to be secured in Yondr devices, which allow guests to keep their phones, but seals them off so they can’t be used. They can be accessed only in designated ‘Phone Use Areas’ at the venue.)

According 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 joked later.

Chappelle has been a controversial figure for his frequent jokes about transgender people and the perception that he is transphobic.

Also joining the fray was comedian Chris Rock, who had performed a set earlier in the evening. According to ABC News, Rock — who was slapped by actor Will Smith while presenting at the Oscars in a now infamous incident — came on stage with Chappelle just after the attack and quipped: “Was that Will Smith?” (This interaction is seen in a video below, though the footage has not been independently verified by Variety.)

Rock has so far refrained from making any pointed public comment about the Oscars slap and Smith.

A Hollywood Bowl spokesperson told news agency PA Media that an investigation into the attack has been opened: “The incident that occurred at the Hollywood Bowl on May 3 2022 is an active investigation and we are unable to comment further at this time.”

ORDER A COPY OF ROB’S NEW BEST SELLING BOOK! Called “America’s Number ONE Gossip Columnist” by The National Enquirer. Rob ‘Naughty But Nice’ Shuter breaks celebrity news every day on his website NaughtyGossip.com where he delivers all the dish about the stars we love in his naughty but nice signature style. You can also catch him co-hosting and breaking celebrity news on Good Day New York, The Today Show, The Talk, Wendy Williams Show, CNN, Extra and Z100’s ‘Elvis Duran.’ Previously, Rob was the Huffington Post’s only celebrity columnist and the former executive editor of OK! Magazine. Rob has also hosted his own Saturday night talk show on Mark Cuban’s channel and his own daily morning show, ‘The Gossip Table,’ on VH1! Breaking some of the biggest entertainment stories, including Jamie Lynn Spears’s pregnancy news, Britney’s first post-meltdown interview, Eva Longoria’s wedding, and baby exclusives for Jessica Alba, Tori Spelling and Mathew McConaughey’s tots, Rob always knows where to find the best scoop. Before Rob was one of the world’s most successful entertainment reporters, he was a publicist working for Jennifer Lopez, Alicia Keys, P. Diddy, Jessica Simpson and Jon Bon Jovi! Now he is bringing all this experience to his new show on I HEART MEDIA in his unique cheeky way, that is always a pinch and never a punch!