Kevin Hart Speaks Out About Dave Chappelle's Onstage Attack: Audiences Need to 'Respect the Craft'

Kevin Hart is speaking out about Dave Chappelle‘s assault at the Hollywood Bowl.

On Tuesday night (May 3), Dave was attacked towards the end of his performance at the Netflix Is a Joke Festival, when a man in a black hoodie rushed the stage and knocked him to the ground.

Kevin discussed the incident during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Thursday (May 5).

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Guest host Mike Birbiglia called the moment scary and Kevin replied: “Somebody getting their a** whooped… not scary. It’s one of those things that need to happen though. [It] sends a message to other people, you know? ‘I was thinking about doing that, but after seeing that, I don’t really want to do that.’”

The comedian continued, “I think that the world that we’re in right now. There’s a lot of lines that have gotten blurred. And sometimes you got to take a couple steps backwards to take some steps forwards. I think that moment that we just witnessed with Dave is like foggy-ing up a bigger moment.”

Kevin mentioned that Dave had made history with his four-day festival sales and added, “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 also said, “Ultimately, you know, these moments of unprofessionalism should not break professionals. I think it’s time to get back to a place of respect for your live entertainer.”

“Comedian has always dealt with heckler; heckler has always shouted out things because he felt that he could,” Kevin told Mike. “A comedian’s way of shutting that down was to say things back. It wasn’t bullying. It wasn’t picking on. It was all done in fun. We’ve now lost sight of the relationship of audience to comedian, and that line has gotten blurred to where it’s like, ‘Well, I don’t need to do this and like this, and I can stand up and make a point.’”

He continued, “It becomes a hard case of, why did you come? Why did you buy a ticket if that was your want or need? When I say we need to get back to the place of respecting the entertainer, respect the craft. If you’re coming, come to have a good time and enjoy the person that you saw. If you have no interest in that, you don’t have to buy a ticket. You don’t have to go.”

It was recently announced that Dave‘s attacker had been charged with four misdemeanors.