Dave Chappelle Tackled by Stage-Rusher, Immediately Cracks Trans Joke

Due to his own choices, only the worst people are siding with Dave Chappelle these days.

For reasons unknown, one person with a very different perspective charged onto the stage in an apparent attempt to tackle the comedian.

He appears to be unharmed, which is more than anyone can say for the stage-jumper, who was carted away an on ambulance with serious injuries.

Chappelle then decided to crack a joke about the trans community. You can already guess what Chris Rock, who was also there, had to add.

Dave Chappelle was one of multiple guests who appeared at the Hollywood Bowl.

The event was Netflix Is A Joke.

That may sound like a description of the company’s business practices and resulting plummeting subscriber counts, but it is actually a comedy festival.

Chappelle, whose repeated and deliberate transphobic controversies earned protests from Netflix subscribers and employees, was performing.

It is unknown if, frankly, any of that was related to what transpired on Tuesday night.

Instead, we know that someone rushed up onto the stage while Chappelle was wrapping up his set.

Chappelle was tackled to the ground briefly and “appeared to tussle on the stage floor” with the alleged assailant.

The unidentified man bolted … but did not get far.

It appears, from various videos, that Chappelle’s security and possibly others caught up with him in an extremely violent way.

Some have characterized security as “tackling” the stage-jumper, but that is a bit of an understatement.

Reportedly, the attacker was carted off in an ambulance with a dislocated shoulder and a gruesomely broken arm.

While that looks like a hard-learned lesson in not jumping onto a stage, without knowing the full picture, it’s hard to say.

There may have been excessive force used by security — or there could be a lot that we don’t know.

For that matter, we don’t even know the motive behind the stage-rush.

While it’s only natural to connect the incident with Chappelle’s many deliberate controversies, but this could be almost anything.

Unfortunately, it’s already too late to say “don’t joke about this being related to Chappelle’s transphobic nonsense,” because the man himself already did that.

Chappelle was heard joking with the audience that his assailant was “a trans man.”

Wild to know how much you’ve hurt a vulnerable community and then, even after experiencing a major shock, still get in one more joke.

Chappelle was not the only one eager to get back to joking after the incident.

Chris Rock was also present, and was quick to ask if that was “Will Smith.”

This reference to the overblown Oscars “slap” incident was corny, but probably felt obligatory in the moment.

Obviously, the two situations are largely unrelated except for a few superficial details.

Will Smith and Chris Rock had a personal altercation after Chris’ comments about Will’s wife, which have decades of history behind them.

Two extremely wealthy men who know each other exchanging a slap is a far cry from, well, any part of what happened with Chappelle.

It’s hard to say that anyone really wishes Chappelle well at the moment — except to say that we’re glad that he seemed uninjured from being tackled.

You can hate who a guy has chosen to be and how he uses his platform without hoping that a random stranger does him bodily harm.

The stage-rusher has been arrested by the LAPD. Perhaps a motive will come to light in the near future.