Kevin Hart reflects on Dave Chappelle's onstage attack; 'Moments of unprofessionalism..’

After Will Smith's infamous slap incident with Chris Rock at the Oscars 2022 grabbed all the headlines, another similar incident has garnered the attention of the global audience.

Dave Chappelle became the talk of the town ever since the comedian was attacked by an audience member during his performance for Netflix Is A Joke in Los Angeles. Post the tragic incident, a lot of well-known people from the Hollywood film fraternity reacted to the incident. The latest entry on the list is Jumanji fame Kevin Hart who recently shared his thoughts on the matter.

Kevin Hart opens up on Dave Chappelle's attack incident

As per ET Cannada, in the latest episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, host Mike Birbiglia talked about Chappelle's attack incident and revealed how 'scary' the situation would have been for the comedian, to which Hart responded and said, "Somebody got on stage and got their a** whooped... not scary." The actor further continued and said, "It’s one of those things that need to happen though." 

Birbiglia was surprised by the comedian's remark, to which Hart further clarified what he actually meant and said, "Mike, do you want people to continue to think that they can cross that line? And break the barrier...?". "Somebody getting their ass whipped sends a message out to the other people- like, you know, 'I was thinking about doing that, but after seeing that I don't really wanna do that.'", he added. 

Hart continued, "I think the world that we're in right now, there's a lot of lines that have gotten blurred, and sometimes you gotta take a couple of steps backward to take a couple steps forward. And I think that moment that we just witnessed with Dave is fogging up a bigger moment."

Hart further mentioned how the only thing people are talking about is the attack, but they shouldn't forget how professional Chappelle was in handling the situation. He added, "Dave went back after that and finished doing the show. And didn't let that thing be a big thing. He quickly moved on from it and got back to doing comedy and that's what a professional does," Hart explained. He further said, "Ultimately, these moments of improfessionalism should not break professionals. They shouldn't shape or mould the world that we're not being seen or viewed in. So I think it's time to get back to a place of respect for your live entertainer."

For the unversed, Chappelle's gig came as a part of Netflix's 11-day stand-up comedy festival, which features around 130 comedians performing across 25 Los Angeles venues. The tragic incident also raised questions about the safety of comedians. 

Image: AP