When Will Smith slapped Chris Rock on stage at the Oscars, everyone was shocked. While the Academy admits they weren’t prepared for such an incident and didn’t handle it properly, the damage is already done.

Smith was able to return to his seat and go on to accept the Academy Award for Best Actor. Many thought he should have been removed from the building instead of sitting there in the front row like nothing happened.

Although Smith has apologized and accepted the consequences, he may not have realized at the time that the consequences were more than just about him. What about the safety of other comedians?

The concern is that there would be copy cats, that other people might try to pull a stunt like Smith and think they can walk away from it like nothing happened. They can’t, but one tried to.

Comedian Dave Chapelle was performing at the Hollywood Bowl as part of the Netflix is a Joke Fest. While he was on stage, a man from the audience jumped on stage and attacked Chappelle. Thankfully, Chappelle is okay, and security was able to restrain and remove the man.

Watch the video below to learn more about this attack and to see footage of it yourself.

We now know that the person who attacked Chappelle is a 23-year-old man named Isaiah Lee. He was holding a knife shaped like a gun when he jumped on stage. He is facing assault with a deadly weapon charges.

Do you think Lee was trying to imitate Smith’s attack of Rock? Do you think there will be more attempted copy cat attacks? What do you think comedians could do to protect themselves when they’re performing on stage?