"The Office" Star Leslie David Baker Released A Statement Explaining Why He's Returning $110,000 In Fan Donations — Here's What He Said

Leslie David Baker, aka Stanley from The Office, is returning donations to all the optimistic fans waiting on his spinoff.

If you remember, back in 2020, Leslie went viral after he launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund a spinoff of The Office following his character, Stanley Hudson. The project was titled Uncle Stan and had a crowdfunding goal of $300,000. According to the landing page, the project earned $336,450 from 1,640 backers by the end of the campaign.

The would-be spinoff's plot would have centered on crossword aficionado Stanley "enjoying his retirement in Florida" until his nephew Lucky from Los Angeles asks for help with his two children and running his motorcycle/flower shop.

Three years later, fans began to take to social media to question whether or not a show was ever happening despite the campaign reaching its goal:

In a viral post, social media user @pugmane said, "I learned today the actor that played Stanley on the office scammed people $300,00 [sic] with a promise of a spinoff featuring his character. I'll never leave this site whatever it's called."

etonline.com / Via Twitter: @pugmane

They also noticed the show's website was no longer working, writing, "Uh oh, someone forgot to keep paying for the show's website's domain name. That's not a good sign."

Twitter: @pugmane

And another social media user brought up impending backlash for the delay, saying, "I love Stanley...but why would he think he could do this and not get busted by NBC or Ricky Gervais?"

Twitter: @PodioCommentary

And now, Leslie has released a statement on Instagram regarding the future of Uncle Stan. "We apologize about the delay in updates," he wrote. "We have been working behind the scenes to get everything on track and rewards fulfilled. We are just as excited as all of you to get this project out and truly appreciate all of your patience and support. The project took longer than anticipated due to circumstances beyond our control."

"Initial delays were caused because of the COVID lockdowns and pushed us back further than expected," he continued.

"As things started returning to normal and we commenced reward fulfillment and preproduction, the WGA strike was announced causing us to put things on hold again. As you are all aware, SAG is now on strike, and we will continue to be on hold indefinitely until an agreement is reached. We stand in solidarity with those in the entertainment industry and will do our part in supporting WGA and SAG during these times."

While the project will remain on hold, Leslie said he plans to refund the backers and continue the rewards and perks for donations, including things like signed Blu-ray discs, posters, Funko Pops, and personal phone calls from Leslie.

"In light of the current economic situation, we felt that this was the best course of action," Leslie wrote. "You will receive a message notifying you of your refund as soon as it is issued, and you can expect to receive it over the following weeks. We will also be contacting Kickstarter to facilitate expediting this matter. We have remained in constant communication with our backers via direct messaging, and rewards have continued to be fulfilled during this time."

He addressed why the returned amount to fans doesn't equal the total donations earned on the Kickstarter page. "FYI, although the total funded amount shown on our Kickstarter campaign page was stated as $336,450.53, that was not the actual final amount we received," he said.

"A large portion of backers' pledges were lowered, or completely dropped and never collected once the campaign was completed. The final amount that we received from Kickstarter was exactly $110,629.81. The funds were never used for any purposes other than reward fulfillment and backer refunds, and have otherwise remained accounted for and untouched in the account."

Sorry Stanley fans, you'll have to wait even longer to see Dunder Mifflin Scranton's finest back on TV.

The Office is available to stream on Peacock.