The life of a comedian has no shortage of unusual circumstances. Case-in-point: Dave Chappelle is currently being sued by Christian Englander, an audience member in Santa Fe, New Mexico who threw a banana skin at the legendary comedian during a stand-up set in 2015. How does that work exactly? Well, Christian Englander claims he was struck twice by Dave Chappelle's bodyguard while he was being restrained after the incident of note.
This legal update is provided by THR (via The Fader). Christian Englander was previously facing charges of battery and disturbing the peace from Dave Chappelle, but these charges were swiftly dropped when Chappelle was unwilling to participate in the prosecution. Englander's claim that he was assaulted wasn't mentioned or discussed in the police report filed after the incident, but the audience member's lawyer said it would be raised if his client went to trial for this case. Neither Dave Chappelle nor his publicist, Carla Sims, have commented on Christian Englander's claims.
Christian Englander's banana skin-throwing incident was discussed by Dave Chappelle in Deep in the Heart of Texas: Dave Chappelle Live At Austin City Limits, one of two Netflix specials Chappelle released on March 21, 2017. This particular stand-up special was filmed in April 2015, not long after the incident-in-question took place. Christian Englander claims he threw the banana skin at Chappelle when the comedian made a comment about his friend that angered him. Englander insists there were no racial motivations in his actions.
Further details about this pending legal matter are unavailable at this time. Whenever they arise, however, we'll be sure to keep you posted on Dave Chappelle's situation. In the meantime, however, the former host of Comedy Central's The Chappelle Show is keeping himself busy with his stand-up.
Dave Chappelle came back in a big way in 2017. As mentioned earlier, Dave Chappelle released not one, but two different stand-up specials on the same day in March 2017, the other being The Age of Spin: Dave Chappelle Live at the Hollywood Palladium. These specials were Dave Chappelle's first in 12 years and they earned the comedian a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album. Netflix also released a report saying these two stand-up specials were the most-viewed comedy specials in the site's history to date. Not too shabby. If that weren't enough, Chappelle released two more stand-up specials at the tail-end of 2017, Dave Chappelle: Equanimity and Dave Chappelle: The Bird Revelation. Both of these streaming specials were released on December 31st, 2017. Additionally, Chappelle will next be seen in Bradley Cooper's upcoming remake of A Star is Born, released on October 5th.
