Chevy Chase responds to being called a 'jerk' by former SNL and Community costars: 'I am who I am'
Chevy Chase isn't apologizing for who he is — or what anyone thinks of him. During a recent interview on CBS' This Morning, correspondent Jim Axelrod asked Chase about his thoughts when he reads things that might affect his reputation — such as former costars on shows like Saturday Night Live and Community calling him out for bad behavior and saying he's a "jerk."
"I guess you'd have to ask them," Chase responded with a laugh, adding "I don't give a crap! I am who I am. And I like... 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 his comedic legend status, Chase has had a history of being difficult to work with. While filming the fourth season of Community in 2012 — where the actor played a bigot named 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 costar Donald Glover opened up via a profile in the New Yorker about how Chase tried to disrupt his scenes by making racial and insensitive jokes between takes to throw him off.
He also found himself the subject of ridicule from SNL star Pete Davidson in 2018, who called Chase a "bad, racist person" on Howard Stern's SiriusXM show. Davidson's comments came after Chase, who starred on the first two seasons of the iconic sketch comedy show, criticized the current iteration of the NBC show in an interview with The Washington Post.
"I had to watch a little of it, and I just couldn't f---ing believe it," Chase said at the time. "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."
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images; Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images Chevy Chase and Pete Davidson.
"He's a f---ing douchebag. F--- Chevy Chase. I hate that dude," Davidson told Stern in response to the interview. "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."
The comments from Davidson came around the same time that the actor made a specific dig at Chase during SNL's Weekend Update in 2018, referencing a recent performance by Kanye West.
"What Kanye said after he went off the air last week was one of the worst, most awkward things I've ever seen here," Davidson said, referring to the impromptu speech West gave the studio in support of Donald Trump. "And I've seen Chevy Chase speak to an intern."
Watch the interview with Chase above.
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