Dave Chapel said he actually talked to his alleged Hollywood Bowl striker behind the scenes after Tuesday’s attack – and the willing rapper has given unclear reasons why he did so, the report said.
The famous comic told the audience at a secret comedy show in Los Angeles on Thursday night that he persuaded the guards to allow him to approach 23-year-old Isaiah Lee before he was taken away by cops, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
“I had to talk to him,” the 48-year-old told the crowd.
Chappelle said he asked Lee why he did it – and the accused attacker began to tell how his grandmother was forced to leave her neighborhood in Brooklyn due to gentrification, the newspaper reported.
Lee’s attack on stage should have shed light on her situation, Chapel said.
The comedian said that Lee, who released a rap song named Chappelle two years ago, seems to be mentally ill.
Lee’s older brother, Aaron Lee, revealed in an interview with Rolling Stone on Wednesday that his brother was battling a mental illness and taking medication.
Lee pleaded not guilty to four counts on Friday. Alice Kaplan
He said Brooklyn-born Lee moved to California when he was a child after their grandmother died.
Lee has been in and out of homeless shelters in Los Angeles for the past decade, his brother added.
The 23-year-old pleaded not guilty on Friday to four counts of crime after allegedly colliding with Chappelle during his show on Tuesday while armed with a strange knife that looks like a gun.
Chappelle said he asked Lee why he did it. Body Cams + / TMX / Mega This is the copy of the pistol with the knife attached, found in the hand of the man who dealt with Dave Chapel on stage. LAPD / Mega
He confronted the court with a swollen eye and a black sling in his hand after being shaken by security guards moments after the attack.
Elsewhere on Thursday’s stand-up show, Chapel joked that he had been “smeared by a homeless man with a leaf in his hair” while joking with Chris Rock about his famous meeting with Will Smith at this year’s Oscars.
“At least you were hit by someone with a reputation,” Chapel told his fellow comedian. Rock responded, “I was hit by the softest n-a ever to rap.”
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