Dave Chappelle is donating all of the ticket sales from his recent stand-up comedy show in Buffalo, New York, to the families of victims who were tragically killed in the mass shooting on May 14. As previously revealed, 10 people were massacred in the attack at Tops supermarket when 18-year-old suspect Payton Gendron targeted Black people in the slaughter, which had also left three people injured.
Dave had graced the stage at Shea’s Performing Arts Center on Sunday, having performed to an audience of 3,019 people. At the end of his show, the venue revealed how Dave had told the crowd he would be donating all ticket sales to the family members who had lost their loved ones in the senseless murders, some of whom were in the audience after being personally invited by the funnyman himself.
“He said, and I’m paraphrasing, I came here to Buffalo to recognize the victims and for these families,” Kevin Sweeney, the director of marketing and communications at Shea’s Performing Arts Center, said, per Deadline. “Dave’s stand-up show had sold out within an hour after tickets went on sale last Thursday. “We were notified on Wednesday,” Kevin added. “But it’s my understanding that he’ll do things last-minute.”
The Buffalo Shooting didn’t occur in a rich area. It happened in a poor predominantly Black area. White supremacists have terrorized Black folks & more specifically poor Black folks since the beginning. Y’all don’t need to wish hate crimes on Black folks, we get them enough.
— Bella Goth (@HotCommieGal) June 7, 2022
Payton, who authorities say was “very heavily armored” at the time of the incident, had parked his car at a Tops Friendly Market when he exited his vehicle and headed for the Tops supermarket, Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia said in a press conference. Before he entered the store, he set up a live stream to record the killings of innocent bystanders, with law enforcement describing the shooting as a hate crime and a case of racially motivated violent extremism.
“This was pure evil,” expressed Erie County Sheriff John Garcia. “This was a straight-up racially motivated hate crime from somebody outside of our community.”
News of Dave’s kind deed comes just a month after he was attacked on stage by a man who had taken issue with the comedian’s jokes about the LGBT community. Dave performed at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles as part of the Netflix Is A Joke festival when his alleged attacker Isaiah Lee hopped onto the stage and tackled the star to the ground.
Being the professional that he is, the 48-year-old made a lighthearted joke about the attack after security rushed to the stage to remove Isaiah from the stage before he was arrested. “I don’t know if that was part of the show or… I grabbed the back of that n****s head, his hair was spongy, absorbant,” the Washington D.C. native quipped.