Adam Sandler Cheetah Attack: 'Grown Ups' Star Was Almost Mauled By A Cheetah During A South African Safari [VIDEO]

Comedian Adam Sandler wasn't laughing after an up-close-and-personal encounter with a cheetah in South Africa.

On Tuesday night, Sandler appeared on “The Late Show With David Letterman” to promote his upcoming movie “Grown Ups 2,” also starring Chris Rock and David Spade. While talking with Letterman, he mentioned recently becoming the victim of the cheetah attack, and even supplied footage of it.

The incident took place while Sandler was on a safari. He was allowed to leave his jeep and personally mingle with the wildlife, but not everything went according to plan.

“They were very nice people at this place. They let me in with a cheetah and said I could feed the cheetah water with my hands. So I did it and something went a little bit wrong.”

Apparently, Sandler didn’t follow proper cheetah-feeding etiquette and bent down too low. This must have freaked the animal out, because the big cat quickly pounced on Sandler.

"What happened was they said you're not supposed to bend down low by the water, and that's why he got mad ... I played it off real good, but I was very nervous. It was fast,” Sandler explained.

Still, while Sandler maintains that he played the attack off expertly, he admits that the biggest reason he appears so confident during the attack was simply because he had a stiff neck at the time.

“My friends who watched it, they go, ‘Man, you were a badass, you played that off really well.’ But I had a stiff neck at the time, so I slowly stood up, and everyone was like, ‘Whoa, you were cool.’”

If the cheetah had been a little more aggressive, Sandler admits, that could have spelled the end for the comedy star.

“I swear to God, when he jumped on me, all I was gonna do was let him eat me, there was not one part of me that was gonna fight back. I was like, 'Alright, this is how I'm dying.'"

Watch Sandler explain his cheetah attack to David Letterman below, complete with video footage of Sandler and the cheetah.