In the book Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live, someone who worked on SNL tells a story about Chevy Chase returning to host the show sometime in the mid '80s. After Chase arrives on set, he proceeds to verbally abuse every cast and crew member present, suggesting to openly gay cast member Terry Sweeney that they do a sketch where he has AIDS and the viewers see how much weight he's lost every week. Throughout the rest of the book, former SNL cast and crew members corroborate this story by discussing their own terrifying encounters with Chase, to the point where you kind of want to give them all a hug and suggest they join a Tim Meadows-led therapy group.
If you've read this book, you probably won't be surprised by the revelation that Chevy Chase, who plays the curmudgeonly Pierce Hawthorne on NBC's Community, is still a dick. This time, however, his dick-ness is being documented on the internet. According to Deadline (via Reddit), Community creator Dan Harmon gave a "Fuck you, Chevy" speech at the season finale wrap party, after Chase reportedly walked off set during the last day of shooting. Harmon led then the cast and crew in a "Fuck you, Chevy" chant in front of Chase's wife and daughter (!) before Chase left the party, later leaving an angry voice message on Harmon's machine (you can listen to it here).
Rumors of Chase being difficult to work with on Community have been floating around the Internet for months, and sources close to the show say that this is not the first time that he's walked off set. And it's unclear how this blow-up will affect his presence on the show, which is currently angling for a fourth-season renewal after returning from a hiatus earlier this month. For Community fans, however, what is clear is that the spat between Chase and Harmon might represent a break from the wave of post-renewal euphoria they've been riding since the show's return was announced last month. What happened to six seasons and a movie, guys?
