Chris Redd’s attack was no laughing matter.
Now, the actor, 40 is shutting down rumors that Kenan Thompson was involved in his Oct. 2022 assault in which he was punched in the nose outside of a New York City comedy club.
“Kenan did not hit me,” Redd told TMZ on Wednesday. “People took it like Kenan hit me. He didn’t hit me.”
The reporter then asked the comedian if he thinks Thompson orchestrated the attack.
“Listen, man,” Redd continued. “I found out who did it. It is what it is. That’s it.”
Redd was dating Thompson’s ex-wife, Christina Evangeline, at the time of his attack.
Redd, who starred on “Saturday Night Live” from 2017 to 2022, was close friends with Thompson, 47, who joined the series in 2003 and is still a cast member.
The “Kenan and Kel” alum, meanwhile, was married to Evangeline, 36, from 2011 until their 2022 separation.
Earlier this month, Redd addressed the assault in an Instagram video.
“When I got punched in the face… most people who know me from back home would know that I would be retaliating in a heartbeat, but not this time, bro,” he explained in the social media clip. “This time it felt like fair — fair enough.”
Without elaborating on why the unknown assailant hit him, Redd opened up about his controversial love life at the time.
“I wanted to address something that’s kind of just, I guess, been around for a long time, about four, five years now, but, you know, I’ve never addressed it,” he confessed. “I know a lot of people talk about me dating Kenan Thompson’s ex-wife, and how that came to be. And I’m gonna just tell it to you straight.”
Redd stressed that “there wasn’t a plan” behind their romance, adding he is “not the type of person to scheme on a person” or date a friend’s ex.
“It was a very unique, nuanced thing that happened, you know, we were all cool, it was never anything crazy until it got crazy,” continued Redd.
“Bottom line is, while I was at [‘SNL’], I had some pills issues, I got some pill problems, nothing too crazy, but crazy for my Black ass, you know?” he divulged. “I was even selling some to the people, to some of my castmates. I’m not gonna snitch on y’all motherf—ers.”
He claimed that Evangeline was the only person to reach out to help.
“It’s crazy how somebody will watch you destroy yourself,” Redd said, before noting that Thompson’s ex was “the only one to call me on my s–t, help me with my s–t, she helped me with my therapy journey, and she told me things about her life that made me look at a lot of people involved in it differently.”
Which then led to romantic feelings between the two.
“In that time, we fell in love,” Redd expressed. “And I felt bad from the start. It’s always felt like an emotional double-edged sword for me, because I really love everything me and Kenan did, bro. I really appreciated every piece of work we put together, I think that we were a great team, and I hate doing something to somebody that I know would hurt them.”
Thompson filed for divorce from Evangeline in June 2022.
Page Six previously confirmed that the exes separated after 11 years of marriage. Thompson and Evangeline share daughters, Georgia, 11, and Gianna, 7.
While still at “SNL,” Redd played Thompson’s brother on the NBC sitcom “Kenan,” which ran for two seasons.
He noted in his Instagram video that while he “did choose love,” he knows “there’s different ways I could have went about this.”
Redd claimed that he and Thompson actually discussed what happened in private before news broke and “everybody found out, and s–t changed.”
“But I was in love, and I was spiraling out,” he said. “That’s what happened, and by the time everybody found out, the world found out, I was out of there, ‘SNL,’ you know?”
Redd concluded his video, telling fans: “This wasn’t meant for laughs. I’m sorry to the people I disappointed with this, just know that it wasn’t to be a d–k, it felt like a love I couldn’t miss out on, and I had to shoot for it.”
In 2022, an insider told Us Weekly, “Christina and Chris started dating [at] the beginning of this year. They’ve always been very close. He was there for her last year through some of the hardest times of her life. She seems to be the happiest she’s ever been. Her relationship with Chris is great and it’s normal.”
The source added that there is no hard feelings with Thompson.
“Conversations had been had and everyone in their circle knew about the relationship prior to the news being released,” they shared. “Kenan’s dating other people [too]. He wishes her happiness.”
