*During his stand-up routine at the Lensic Performing Arts Center in Santa Fe back in March, Dave Chappelle was heckled by a man accused of throwing a banana peel at him. Now the banana heckler is headed to court!
31-year-old Christian Englander, who is white, has been charged with disturbing the peace and battery after throwing fruit at Chappelle while he was onstage. The petty misdemeanors each carry a jail sentence of up to six months and a possible fine of $500, Page Six reports.
Englander admitted to throwing a peel from a banana he had eaten because he took offense to jokes Chappelle made about his companion. The friend decided to sketch during Dave’s act, and when Chappelle noticed, he asked the man his name, which he gave as “Johnny Appleseed.” Englander became upset when Chappelle began making jokes about the name, according to police.
After Englander’s arrest on March 30, Chappelle visited him at the police station to interrogate him, asking “Don’t you know bananas are racist?” Englander said when he did not agree, Chappelle responded with profanity-laced insults about Englander and his mother.
“If I can, I would like to avoid a trial,” Englander said Monday following a brief hearing before Judge Donita Sena in Magistrate Court. “I’m not afraid of the end result, but it’s a waste of human resources.” He also said there are “real criminals out there that they can try. If there is a plea offering, I’ll take it.”
Jury selection is scheduled for Sept. 23, Assistant District Attorney Anastasia Martin told the Santa Fe New Mexican.
In related news, Chappelle recently received an award from Russell Simmons’ Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation. During his speech he told the audience that artists have a responsibility to be activists in some way.
“The biggest enemy of an artist is apathy,” he said. Then he added, “A kid gets killed by the police and I buy a T-shirt and before I can wear that one, there’s another kid (killed) and I’m running out of closet space.”
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