The man who attacked comedian Dave Chappelle on stage in May has been sentenced to prison.
Isaiah Lee, 24, slammed into Chappelle during a Hollywood Bowl show on May 3, according to the New York Post.
Lee pleaded no contest to the charges against him — a plea allowed in California that does not require an admission of guilt — and will spend 270 days behind bars.
Although Lee was carrying a knife and a fake gun Lee, he was not charged with a felony because neither were produced during the attack. Instead, Lee was charged with assault and entering a restricted area.
Dave Chappelle’s attacker, Isaiah Lee, was sentenced to jail time after rushing the stage and tackling the comedian in May. https://t.co/sLlUUvibYH
— Entertainment Weekly (@EW) December 18, 2022
During an interview with the New York Post, Lee said he was inspired by the Oscar night incident in which actor Will Smith strode onstage and slapped comedian Chris Rock after a comment Rock made about Jada Pinkett Smith, who is Smith’s wife.
Lee said he was a bisexual sexual abuse survivor who was “triggered” by Chappelle’s LGBT material.
“I wanted him to know that next time, he should consider first running his material by people it could affect,” Lee said.
“I wanted Dave Chappelle and people to know that these are things you need to be more sensitive about and not joke about,” he said.
When he was told Chappelle had wanted felony charges pressed against him, Lee said it was “messed up when a black man would want another black man to go to jail for a long time.”
In August, Deputy Public Defender Chelsea Padilla, who is acting as Lee’s attorney, sought to have Lee put in a mental health diversion program, according to the Los Angeles Times. The request was rejected.
Prosecutors opposed the motion and a judge rejected Lee’s request, which could have resulted in a dismissal of charges against him.
Chappelle said after the attack that Lee told him the attack was in part designed to call attention to the impact of gentrification on the Brooklyn neighborhood where his grandmother lives.
In his Post interview, Lee said he hoped to get attention to promote his career as a rapper.
“I’m not going to lie … it was a bit of clout-chasing,” Lee said. “In Hollywood, you know they say there is no such thing as bad publicity. I rap about these things in my music and knew it would get attention.”
Lee returns to court on Jan. 19.
He also faces attempted murder charges in connection with a December 2021 attack on a former roommate, who came forward to identify Lee as his alleged assailant after Lee had attacked Chappelle.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
