Howie Mandel admitted that he's afraid to go back to performing stand-up comedy after his fellow comedian Dave Chappelle was attacked onstage on Tuesday in Hollywood.
The 66-year-old America's Got Talent judge admitted to Extra's Billy Bush on Wednesday that he plans to tour 'less' in the wake of the shocking attack.
'Watching what happened to Dave last night confirmed my fear,' Howie said. 'I was watching it kind of live on Twitter and I turned to my wife and I said, "I don't want to. I don't want to go on stage. I'm just really afraid."'
More private time: Howie Mandel, 66, said he planned to tour 'less' due to his fears of being attacked on stage after Dave Chappelle was tackled on Tuesday at the Hollywood Bowl; seen in September in Hollywood
Chappelle had been performing at the Hollywood Bowl when a man jumped on stage from the audience and tackled him.
The comedian didn't suffer any serious injuries, though the apparent attacker, 23-year-old Isaiah Lee, had a plastic replica handgun with an attached knife blade with him.
'That hit... no pun intended… that hit very deeply,' Howie said of the attack.
He traced a change in culture following the introduction of so-called 'cancel culture' and suggested that audience members might feel empowered to attack comics that offend them after Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at the Academy Awards ceremony in March.
'My biggest fear 40 years ago was not getting a laugh, and then cancel culture came along and then it was like, "Oh, my God if somebody doesn't like your joke or you overstepped your line you could lose your career," and then after the Academy Awards… I said... "Violence triggers violence."'
Shocking: Chappelle was apparently attacked by 23-year-old Isaiah Lee onstage at the Hollywood Bowl on Tuesday. He wasn't injured, but Lee had a knife with him; seen April 28 in Hollywood
Howie thought that the slap seen around the world had emboldened audience members looking to hurt performers.
'This is one step that kind of opens a door and triggers somebody if
