Chevy Chase is who he is and he’s sticking by that mantra after being asked to address claims put out there by former co-stars from Saturday Night Live and Community that he’s difficult to work with.
During a recent interview on CBS’ This Morning, correspondent Jim Axelrod asked Chase about his thoughts when reads things about his reputation that he’s hard to work with. His former co-stars on both SNL and Community have called Chase out for bad behavior on set and essentially saying he’s a “jerk.” In response to this Chase said, “I guess you’d have to ask them. I don’t give a crap! I am who I am. I don’t care. And it’s part of me that I don’t care. And I’ve thought about that a lot. And I don’t know what to tell you, man. I just don’t care.”
Despite Chevy Chase being considered a comedic legend in some circles, he has had a history of being difficult to work with. During the fourth season of Community in 2012, where he played Pierce Hawthorne, the show paused production after Chase reportedly used the N-word in an argument with showrunner Dan Harmon. In March 2018, former Community co-star Donald Glover opened up in a profile for the New Yorker about how Chase tried to disrupt his scenes by making racial and insensitive jokes between takes to try and throw him off.
Also in 2018, Chase found himself the subject of ridicule from SNL star Pete Davidson after he called him a “bad, racist person” on Howard Stern’s SiriusXM show. Davidson’s comments were made after Chase, who starred in the first two seasons of SNL, criticized the current iteration of the show during an interview with The Washington Post. Chase said, “I had to watch a little of it, and I just couldn’t f—ing believe it. That means a whole generation of s—heads laughs at the worst f—ing humor in the world. You know what I mean? How could you dare give that generation worse s— than they already have in their lives? It just drives me nuts.” In response, Davidson didn’t mince words and went on to say, “He’s a f—ing douchebag. F— Chevy Chase. I hate that dude, He’s just a genuinely bad, racist person, and I don’t like him.” Davidson also defended Lorne Michaels, SNL’s creator and long-term showrunner, saying Chase’s words were “disrespectful to a guy who gave you a career” and that “no matter how big you get, you can’t forget what that guy did for you.”
Tales of Chevy Chase being difficult to work with have been around for years but I do remember that A LOT of stories came out when he was on Community. I always assumed this was just a guy who came up during a certain time in comedy and maybe felt a bit of entitlement. Some legends can be that way sometimes. He certainly seems set in his ways now and it looks like nothing will change that.
Do YOU believe the stories that Chevy Chase is difficult to work with?