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Who is Isaiah Lee? Dave Chappelle's attacker is wannabe rapper with a temper, NOT a 'trans man'

Isaiah Lee, 23, was arrested after he attacked Chappelle while carrying a strange knife that looks like a handgun

The man who attacked Dave Chappelle with a blade-firing fake gun during a concert titled 'Netflix Is A Joke' in Los Angeles on Tuesday, April 3, has been identified as Isaiah Lee, 23, of Los Angeles. He has been charged with the attack of the comedian, 48, which was caught on camera. LAPD spokesperson Lizeth Lomeli confirmed that he was carrying a fake handgun with a blade inside. He was booked and is being held on $30,000 bail, according to records. 

Lee was listed as being 5 feet 10 inches tall, and 140 pounds. An address given for him matched that of an LA homeless shelter. He also had to be hospitalized after security pounced on him. He was seen with his arm twisted and seemingly snapped, and also appeared to have a puffed-up, bloody right eye and a bloody nose. 

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Lee was caught on camera racing towards Chappelle from his right and knocking him down. He then fled as security chased him. The incident was narrated by Buzzfeed News reporter Brianna Sacks, who attended the gig. "The show was just ending when the man hoppped onto stage and ran at Chappelle, form tackling him to the ground. The comedian had literally just said he now has more security because of all the uproar from his jokes about the Trans community," Sacks wrote. "Security et al rushed and started punching and kicking the sh** out of Chappelle’s attacker. He was just about to bring on Talib Kweli and Mos Def for the encode and we in the crowd were like what the f**k is going on. Chappelle kept on while the guy was getting beat in the back".

"When we got out of the Bowl and got our phones out, LAPD and medics were cordoning off the area and then loaded Chappelle’s attacker, who looked to be strapped in a jacket in a chair, into an ambulance. Members of the crowd cussed him out," she added. Chris Rock comforted Chappelle on stage, jokingly referring to his onstage attack at the Oscars this year. "Was that Will Smith?” he asked.

Chappelle, meanwhile, rubbed the LGBTQ+ community the wrong way yet again after joking that it was a “trans man” who attacked him onstage during the now-viral assault. Following the kerfuffle, a video emerged of Chappelle leaning into the microphone and quipping “that was a trans man.” Presumably a reference to his ongoing feud with the LGBTQ community over a series of remarks and jokes that many deemed transphobic. Online critics, then accused the funnyman of taking 'a cheap shot'.

Who is Isaiah Lee?

Chappelle's attacker, Lee, is a wannabe rap star. He raps under the name “NoName_Trapper", and has a Spotify profile with nearly nearly 6,000 monthly listeners. Lee was booked with felony assault with a deadly weapon over the attack.

A track of one of his many albums is called “Dave Chappell.” Most of the lyrics are mumbled but at one point he seemingly refers to getting into the Hollywood Bowl, which was where the attack took place. “Walkin’ straight into da Bowl,” he had rapped. The song was recorded in 2020 but ironically Chappelle was meant to perform a stand-up set at the Hollywood Bowl in May 2020, but it ended up getting canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. In another song named 'Maga my n***a' Lee appears to rap about Donald Trump, saying, "Why is everybody always hatin’ on my president.”

Former neighbors of the troublemaker have also recalled his habit of creating havoc in his apartment complex in California. Former neighbor Russell Taylor remembered Lee as someone who could be “set off with a word.” “Whatever Chappelle was saying and he was not feeling, it would be no surprise to me that he would go, ‘Hey, I’m going to run up and fix it!’ ” Taylor, who lived in a Redondo Beach, California said speaking to New York Post.

Lee had lived with his brother and brother’s girlfriend at the condo off and on for about two years, but the landlord said only the brother’s girlfriend had been on the lease and that Lee didn’t pay rent. Police visited the complex several times on calls related to the group, Taylor claimed, and he said he personally witnessed police cuffing Lee on more than one occasion. The landlord of the building where Lee had stayed described him as a “very troubled person” who came from a very hard upbringing. “One minute he would be happy, and then the next, his mood would drastically change,” said the landlord. He also called both Lee and his brother wannabe rappers whose music was “just awful.” “They are criminals. It’s emblematic on how bad things have gotten in this state.”