Someone Just “Will Smithed” Dave Chappelle
Is it me or is this déjà vu?
Dave Chappelle a stand-up comedian was just wrapping up his performance at the Hollywood Bowl for “Netflix is a Joke: The Festival.” Before he finished up he had started to introduce performances by two hip-hop artists when a member of the audience ran on stage and tackled Chappelle to the ground. Within seconds security were on the scene chasing the attacker and pinning him down to the ground.
You can see a clip of the attack below:
What we see happening to Chappelle feels like déjà vu. We have seen this scene before. Except the way that this scenario panned out was completely different. Smith was allowed to go back to his seat, accept an award, and make a tearful speech with a standing ovation.
The attacker who has been identified as Isaiah Lee was beaten and restrained by security on stage and was later seen being carried out on a stretcher into an ambulance and was taken into police custody.
Of course, there are other differences to take into account too like the fact that Lee was armed with a replica of a handgun which was a knife. So in this case it was more serious due to the fact he was in possession of a weapon, which he must have been intending to use. Also, the nature of the attack was different too, as Chappelle was actually tackled to the ground, prompting security to rush on stage.
Double standards
The thing is Chappelle is known for making jokes about the Trans community and has felt the heat of this in the past.
The ironic thing was that right before the attack he had actually mentioned that he’d had to amp up his security due to the Oscars incident and the pushback he was getting for his Trans jokes.
We don’t know what the motive was for Lee to run on stage and attack Chappelle, but say it was for his Trans jokes, where are the people supporting Lee? I definitely don’t condone what he did in any shape or form and I never agree with violence being the answer, but it is clear to see that there are some serious double standards here.
Smith was a hero to some, Lee is scum to everyone. Why are the rules so different for celebrities? To reiterate, I am aware that this incident involved a weapon therefore is more serious but the reactions were so split over the Oscars incident with people siding with both Rock and Smith, yet the general consensus for this incident is united.
Is it because Smith is a celebrity adored by many and this guy is not? Is that why we make excuses for Smith’s behaviour and why his actions were acceptable in some people’s eyes?
Is this what we do now?
On the other hand, another thing that struck me was that, is this just what we do now? Are we really at a point now where people feel they can just run on stage and attack comedians? So now a comedy show has become a free for all Hunger games type situation where performers now need to be wary of their audience?
Surely this cannot be where we are at, that people think they have the right to walk on stage and attack someone?
I cannot help but think that Will Smith doing this very thing has opened the door to these types of attacks. What he did was so normalized and he faced no consequences at the time.
Celebrities are often seen as role models and when one who is as popular as Smith does something like walking on stage and slapping a comedian for not liking what he said, there are bound to be those who will want to follow in his footsteps.
It appears that this has opened a can of worms for normalizing casual attacks on comedians who are just doing their job. This type of incident should not even be something any performer has to worry about and yet here it is again, history repeating itself.
It’s scary to think that a space has opened up for these types of attacks, but I truly hope that now this has happened again, it will put an end to these types of incidents, rather than perpetuating it.
Now that we have seen what happens when a non-celebrity tries the same thing we can only hope that this will never happen again from anyone.
