Dave Chappelle announces he’s donating his standing ticket sales to Buffalo grocery store mass shooting victims
- Chappelle, 48, performed in Buffalo, New York, on Saturday night
- He said he donated the sales to the victims of the mass shootings at the end
- Suspected shooter killed 10 black people and injured three on May 14
- He attacked a Tops grocery store in Buffalo with an AR-15 type weapon
- Suspected shooter’s online writings point to racist motivations
Dave Chappelle says he wants to help the victims of a deadly shooting in Buffalo, New York, by donating his ticket sales.
The 48-year-old comedian announced Saturday at the end of his stand-up performance in Buffalo at Shea’s Performing Arts Center that he would donate proceeds to the families of the victims, according to the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.
The venue shared Chappelle’s announcement, which comes after a suspected gunman killed 10 black people at a Tops grocery store with an AR-15-style weapon, while injuring three others.
Helping hand: Dave Chappelle, 48, announced at the end of a last-minute stand-up in Buffalo, New York, that he was donating his ticket sales to families of victims of a mass shooting racist incident in the city on May 14; seen in October in London
“He said, and I’m paraphrasing, ‘I came here to Buffalo to recognize the victims and for these families,'” Shea marketing and communications director Kevin Sweeney said.
Chappelle reportedly told the audience near the end of his show that the families of the victims were in the audience after inviting them.
Sweeney added that the venue was not involved in Chappelle’s charitable plans and could not offer further details.
Chappelle’s show was announced on short notice on June 1 and tickets had sold out less than an hour after going on sale Thursday.
Doing his part: “He said, and I’m paraphrasing, ‘I came here to Buffalo to acknowledge the victims and for these families,'” Shea marketing and communications director Kevin Sweeney said; Chappelle seen on April 28 in Hollywood
Tragedy: The announcement comes after a gunman killed 10 black people at a Tops grocery store with an AR-15 weapon, while injuring three others; photographed on May 15
The accused: The suspect, Payton Gendron, 18, is charged with 25 counts, including 10 counts of first degree murder and domestic terrorism. He pleaded not guilty; seen on May 28
His last show at the Buffalo site was in 2016 and was also sold out.
The suspect charged in last month’s Buffalo shooting, 18-year-old Payton Gendron, has been charged with 25 counts, including 10 counts of first-degree murder and domestic terrorism. He pleaded not guilty.
The alleged shooter allegedly wrote about his racist motivations for the shooting, which included references to a 2019 mass shooting in Christchurch, New Zealand, when a gunman killed 51 people at two mosques in the city while broadcasting live the carnage.
Like the Christchurch killer, the suspected Buffalo shooter went live on social media as he attacked shoppers at Tops grocery store, located in a predominantly black neighborhood.
Shocking: Early last month, Chappelle was attacked onstage while performing at the Hollywood Bowl
On Thursday, a 911 dispatcher was fired after a disciplinary hearing for apparently hanging up on a Tops employee who called for help while hiding from the shooter.
Chappelle recently had a stage scare when he was attacked onstage at the Hollywood Bowl in early May by a man with a pistol-shaped knife blade, although it did not appear to have been used in the attack.
The Half Baked star has come under fire in recent years for his specials and live shows, which have featured sometimes lengthy sections containing jokes about transgender people, which some viewers and audience members have criticized as being transphobic.
Immediately after the attack, Chappelle joked with the audience, “He was a trans man,” despite the attacker not being transgender.
Divide: The comedian has been lambasted by some viewers and audience members in recent years for lengthy digressions on his shows that they consider transphobic; seen in January in Paris
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