The man who attacked Dave Chappelle during a show at the Hollywood Bowl in 2022 is now suing the venue for battery and negligence, CBS News reports.
Isiah Lee, 25, who served 270 days in jail in 2023 after pleading no contest to charges related to the attack, accused the Hollywood Bowl's security of “allowing members of the comedian’s entourage, encouraged by the comedian, to beat Lee” and security “took no action to prevent or stop the assault on Lee.”
Footage taken after the attack showed Lee on a stretcher and being put into an ambulance. Images also showed Lee with bruises and what looked like a broken arm.
The lawsuit alleges that security allowed Chappelle's entourage to beat up Lee, who suffered injuries while security officers spat on him and dislocated his arm.
“Lee did not consent to being beat and/or spit on, and a reasonable person in Plaintiff’s situation would have been offended by being beaten and spit on," the suit read, adding that the 25-year-old has since experienced "physical pain, suffering, anguish, fright, nervousness, anxiety, grief, shock, humiliation, indignity, and embarrassment" following the incident.
Lee, who says he rushed the stage because he was "triggered" by Chappelle's offensive jokes, also claims the Hollywood Bowl is responsible for failing to take "measures to prevent or mitigate the potential harm caused by such offensive material.”
Back in December 2022, Lee was sentenced to 270 days in jail after pleading no contest to one charge of misdemeanor battery and one charge of entering a restricted area during a live event.
Lee is not suing Chappelle himself.
