Man Who Threw Banana Peel On Stage at Dave Chappelle Is Now Suing Him

Christian Englander (RIGHT)

(AP) A man who threw a banana peel at Dave Chappelle during a 2015 performance in Santa Fe, New Mexico, is suing the comedian and a man presumed to be his bodyguard.

Christian Englander’s lawsuit filed Friday contends the presumed bodyguard struck Englander twice as he was being restrained.

Englander, who is white, has said he had no racial motivation when he threw the banana peel at Chappelle, who is black, but was angered by something Chappelle said during the show.

Englander faced charges of battery and disturbing the peace, but they were dropped because Chappelle was unwilling to participate in the prosecution.

Englander’s claim he was assaulted wasn’t mentioned in the police report, but his lawyer said it would have been raised if Englander went on trial.

Viewers of Chappelle’s 2017 stand-up special Deep in the Heart of Texas: Dave Chappelle Live at Austin City Limits, might recall the story of Englander — the experience, known as “Bananagate,” served as the comic’s opening joke. In it Chappelle said they he believed the crime to be “premeditated” based on the brownness of the peel.

Chappelle’s publicist Carla Sims did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Christian is one strange man… He took a banana peel to the concert of a black man. Through banana at the black man, then turns around and sues the black man who declined to press charges against him. Only in America…