UPDATED 11/3, 12:40 p.m. ET: Chris Redd has opened up about his attack outside New York’s Comedy Cellar.
“I was walking up to do a show. First of all, didn’t get out of a car, I just walked there like any New Yorker. They just added a lot of details,” Redd told The Last Laugh podcast, according toThe Rolling Stone.
He described how he thought he was hit with “something metal. I thought it was brass knuckles because it cut my nose to the bone. I’ve been boxing for years, so first of all, I’ve taken a punch to the face before. It wasn’t terrifying, but what was worrisome is how much blood was coming out of my face.”
The damage to his face was extensive: “I got two fractures in my nose and a fracture in my cheek. A fist don’t normally do all that at one time. It was said to assume he hit me with something. But dude just ran off. I fell down so fast, I didn’t even know I fell until I looked at the footage.”
The man who sucker-punched Redd hasn’t yet been apprehended. “He hit me and he was gone,” the comedian said. “I was just gushing blood so I couldn’t look around. It wasn’t really about the pain at that point, it was just so much blood. I was trying to figure out where he was and I couldn’t chase him down the street because there was blood.”
The amount of blood is the only thing that stopped Redd from performing that night. “If we could have stopped the bleeding, I would have went on stage,” he told the podcast. “I was like, ‘Oh, I can’t wait to talk about this shit.’ Now, I’m glad I waited, but that was my first thought. That’s why there’s blood on the Comedy Cellar stairs, ’cause I got hit, and I was like, ‘My set!’ That’s all I could think about!”
See original story from 10/27/22 below.
Chris Redd didn’t make it to his comedy show on Wednesday night in New York City.
TMZ reports that when the Saturday Night Live alum pulled up to the Comedy Cellar in Greenwich Village, he was allegedly assaulted by a random person. Redd was transported to Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan and has since been treated and released.
According to authorities, Redd was sucker-punched in the face after he got out of his vehicle at around 9:40 p.m. ET. The suspect was reportedly outfitted in a security guard uniform and left Redd with a bloody nose.
By the time law enforcement arrived at the scene, the suspect had already fled. The reason behind the alleged attack is unknown. Footage acquired by TMZ shows the aftermath of the scene, with blood on the sidewalk and on the Comedy Cellar’s steps.
Redd departed from SNL in late September, and in the days following, news surfaced that he’s reportedly dating Kenan Thompson’s estranged wife, Christina Evangeline. The former couple is separated, with Thompson filing for divorce in May after 11 years of marriage. They have joint custody of their two daughters, 3-year-old Gianna and 7-year-old Georgia.
Redd and Evangeline apparently started officially dating within the past year, with TMZ reporting that “there was no overlap or cheating.” Thompson allegedly isn’t upset over the pair dating.
Redd left SNL after five years with the show. Thompson has stayed on, now becoming the longest-running cast member after joining in 2003.
