Howie Mandel has admitted he’s scared to perform on stage after Dave Chappelle was attacked, describing it as the ‘beginning of the end for comedy’.
The – named by LAPD as Isaiah Lee – during his performance at the Netflix Is A Joke festival on Tuesday night.
LAPD has confirmed that the 23-year-old was charged with assault with a deadly weapon after the incident, according to .
Reports with a knife blade inside when he lunged for the star.
Mandel has said the shocking incident ‘confirmed his fears’ about performing on stage.
‘That hit… no pun intended… that hit very deeply,’ he said.
The 66-year-old : ‘Watching what happened to Dave last night confirmed my fear. I was watching it kind of live on Twitter and I turned to my wife and I said,”‘I don’t want to. I don’t want to go on stage. I’m just really afraid.”‘
Mandel : ‘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.”
, Chappelle, 48, was coming to the end of his stand-up routine in LA when he was approached by Lee.
In video footage, he suddenly appeared to rush him from the side, before Jamie Foxx leapt on stage to help.
The Django Unchained actor, who was watching the show from the wings, jumped to action and detained the attacker while the comedian quickly recovered.
‘I don’t know if that was part of the show or… I grabbed the back of that n****s head, his hair was spongy, absorbent,’ he told the audience shortly after the incident.
‘Listen, I just want to say I’ve had an incredible time. This guy is a genius, we’ve got to protect him at all times, man. This is what it’s about,’ he continued, referring to Foxx.
‘For every comedian that comes out here, this means everything. You’re a genius, you’re a legend, I enjoyed myself thoroughly and we’re not gonna let nothing happen to you.’
A spokesperson for the Hollywood Bowl said in a statement: ‘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.’
A rep for Chappelle has since spoken out, saying: ‘Dave Chappelle celebrated four nights of comedy and music, setting record-breaking sales for a comedian at the Hollywood Bowl.
‘This run ties Chappelle with Monty Python for the most headlined shows by any comedian at the Hollywood Bowl, reaching 70k fans of diverse backgrounds during the first Netflix Is A Joke: The Festival, and he refuses to allow last night’s incident to overshadow the magic of this historic moment.’
The statement continued: ‘As unfortunate and unsettling as the incident was, Chappelle went on with the show. Jamie Foxx and Chris Rock helped calm the crowd with humor before Chappelle introduced the last and featured musical guests for the evening, hip-hop artists yasiin bey and Talib Kweli, a.k.a. Black Star, who performed music from their new album – the first in nearly 24 years – which was released on Luminary.
‘Other special comedic guests last night included Earthquake, Leslie Jones, Jeff Ross, Sebastian, Jon Stewart and Michelle Wolf.’
Metro.co.uk understands Chappelle is fully cooperating with the active police investigation into this incident.
