Isaiah Lee has claimed that his attack on Dave Chappelle at a Netflix comedy event has raised his profile to the point that he is probably safer in jail than outside of it.
In his second interview in two days, Lee told the New York Post that his fellow inmates recognize him from the Hollywood Bowl incident.
“They come up to me and ask, ‘Hey, are you the guy who went up to Dave Chappelle?’” Lee said. “I feel safer here right now than being outside because I’m going to need to find and hire security.”
On Sunday, Lee said that he rushed the stage and tackled the comedian to send him a message about his “triggering” jokes.
“I wanted him to know that next time, he should consider first running his material by people it could affect,” the 23-year-old stated, referencing his history with homelessness and sexual abuse, as well as his bisexual identity. “I wanted Dave Chappelle and people to know that these are things you need to be more sensitive about and not joke about.”
He also claimed that he had no intention to harm Chappelle with the knife concealed by a replica gun that he brought into the show.
However, the Post reported that in his follow-up interview, Lee admitted that his actions were partially motivated by “clout-chasing.”
“In Hollywood, you know they say there is no such thing as bad publicity,” he said. “I rap about these things in my music and knew it would get attention.”
In total, Lee faces four misdeamnor charges for the attack, to all of which he has plead not guilty. He was charged with attempted murder for a separate incident involving the stabbing of his roommate in December. He has also plead not guilty to that charge.
Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón said that “the publicity generated by the attack on Mr. Chappelle helped police solve” the December crime.
Lee is being held at a Los Angeles correctional facility on a $30,000 bail.