Marlon Wayans says he almost rushed the stage to defend Dave Chappelle during the comedian’s 2022 Hollywood Bowl attack—until he realized Diddy had already stepped in.
Speaking on a recent episode of the We In Miami podcast, the actor and comedian recalled witnessing Chappelle being tackled onstage by audience member Isaiah Lee.
The attacker, who was carrying a replica handgun at the time, was later sentenced to 270 days in jail for the assault and claimed he charged at Chappelle over jokes related to the LGBTQIA+ community.
On the podcast, Wayans spoke about what he called Diddy’s “heroic” moment. “You know, as bad as people can be, there’s always something… They have heroic moments,” the HIM star said, referring to the disgraced Bad Boy Entertainment founder, who is currently serving a 50-month sentence at New Jersey’s Fort Dix for violating two counts of the Mann Act.
Wayans added that he nearly became the fourth person on stage alongside Diddy and Chappelle while they were subduing Lee. He also mentioned a photo of himself with Chappelle from that night, which later appeared in Chappelle’s Netflix special, The Unstoppable…
“I tried to jump in,” Wayans said. “I saw it happening and wanted to get my stomp in too. Everybody was stomping this man. You trying to stab our bro? Like, nah, man. We ain’t going for that.”
“So they all stomped him out. Diddy did stomp the dude, and by the time I got over there, I was like, ‘Ehhh, everybody already beat him up. Ain’t no room left.’”
Elsewhere, Wayans suggested he never took part in the infamous freak-offs tied to Diddy, though he confirmed he had attended some of the mogul’s parties. “I didn’t know about the aftie. I just knew about the party [where we were] dancing on couches and sipping Ciroc,” he said.
The comedian also defended Diddy amid criticism from 50 Cent, who executive produced Sean Combs: The Reckoning, a Netflix exposé. After trading shots with Fif on social media last month, Wayans said his family encouraged him to drop the feud.
“My brothers, they were funny,” Wayans told KTLA. “Dame was like, ‘Why you pick the biggest brother? He’s on gamma rays. Stick to beefing with Soulja Boy, Kevin Hart — people that we can beat. You fight him? Leave guys that got shot nine times alone. He survived nine!’”
