Controversial comedians Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle will be coming to London for two nights - a one-off joint show - later this year.
Though the pair are successful comedians in their own right, both were attacked in separate incidents while performing in recent months.
Rock was slapped on stage at the Oscars by actor (and, later that night, award winner) Will Smith, after he made a joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith. Meanwhile, Chappelle was performing at the Netflix is A Joke festival in Los Angeles in May when he was attacked by a stranger who rushed onto the stage and “lunged” at him.
Isaiah Lee, who has since pleaded not guilty to four misdemeanour charges, has since said he acted because he found Chappelle’s content “triggering” - a reference to Chappelle’s controversial stance on transgender people and homelessness, for which he has been criticised in the past.
However, despite this – or perhaps because of it – the pair have since gone onto enjoy a boost in ticket sales, with Rock’s shows selling out completely after he was assaulted by Smith.
In March, American ticketing company TickPick posted on Twitter that Rock had sold more tickets in the 48 hours after the Oscars than in the entire previous month.
The pair will be putting on a co-headline show at the O2 Arena on Saturday September 3, and have since added a second date on Sunday September 4. In the event announcement, Live Nation said that the pair were “comedy legends” and would be playing an “iconic co-headlining show in London.”
The news comes after they teamed up for a surprise performance at The Comedy Store in West Hollywood where Chappelle joked about the incident and reportedly told Rock that he got “smacked by someone of repute.”
“I got smacked by a homeless guy with leaves in his hair.”
In response, Rock laughed and reportedly quipped that he had been “smacked by the softest n***a that ever rapped.”
In the aftermath of his assault on Rock, Smith was banned from attending any Academy Award events (which includes the Oscars), for ten years.
In an Instagram post following the incident, Smith apologised to Rock, writing: “I would like to publicly apologise to you, Chris. I was out of line and I was wrong.”
Tickets for the event at the O2 Arena go on sale from Live Nation on June 10.
