May 7 (UPI) — Kevin Hart has nothing but praise for fellow comedian Dave Chappelle following Chappelle’s onstage attack.
Hart, 42, reacted to Chappelle, 48, being attacked onstage at the Netflix is a Joke comedy festival during Thursday’s episode of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
Chappelle was performing Tuesday when a man rushed onstage and tackled him. The suspect, later identified as Isaiah Lee, 23, was apprehended but will not face felony charges.
The attack followed an incident at the Oscars in March where actor Will Smith strode onstage and slapped comedian Chris Rock in the face following a joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.
On “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” Hart disagreed with guest host Mike Birbiglia that the Chappelle incident was “scary.”
“Somebody ran on stage and got their ass whipped,” Hart said. “It’s one of those things that need to happen, though.”
“Somebody getting their ass whipped sends a message out to other people that was like, ‘You know, I was thinking about doing that but after seeing that, I don’t really want to do that,'” he added.
Hart then emphasized Chappelle’s achievements rather than the attack.
“Sometimes you gotta take a couple steps backwards to take some steps forward, and I think that moment that we just witnessed with Dave is fogging up a bigger moment. Like, Dave just made history at the Hollywood Bowl. He sold over 70,000 tickets,” Hart said.
“Dave went back after that and finished doing the show. Didn’t let that thing be a big thing. Quickly moved on from it and got back to doing comedy, and that’s what a professional does,” he added.
Hart will kick off his “Reality Check” standup comedy tour in July.
