Chevy Chase Defends 'Community' Exit, Denies Racism Claims

Table of Contents

The New CNN Documentary: I'm Chevy Chase and You're Not

The new CNN documentary I'm Chevy Chase and You're Not revisits the controversial exit of Chevy Chase from the NBC sitcom Community in late 2012. Chase famously left the show midway through its fourth season after a series of creative clashes with Community creator Dan Harmon and an alleged on-set meltdown.

His feud with Harmon reached a boiling point when the writer allegedly asked the cast and crew of Community to chant "F You" toward Chase and his family at the season 3 wrap party in April 2012. Harmon was fired at the end of season 3, though trouble on the Community set only intensified. Chase ultimately left Community in season 4 after he allegedly used a racial slur in front of African-American costars Yvette Nicole Brown and Donald Glover. (Chase later apologized, while Community* director Jay Chandrasekhar clarified that the slur was not aimed at either Brown or Glover.)

What Led Up to Chevy Chase's Departure From ‘Community'?

Community creator Dan Harmon cast Chevy Chase as curmudgeonly college student Pierce Hawthorne for the NBC sitcom's first season. While the hit sitcom introduced Chase to a new generation of fans, there were reports of a tense on-set atmosphere from the beginning. Deadline reported in March 2012 that Chase had grown increasingly uncomfortable with the edgy direction of his character and walked off the set during the season 3 finale. Chase eventually agreed to return for Community's season 3 wrap party alongside his wife, Jayni Chase, and their daughter Caley.

According to Deadline, an angry Harmon got up on stage to say, "F you, Chevy," during the wrap party and then got some attendees to chant "F you" as Chase entered with his wife and daughter. In the 2026 CNN documentary I'm Chevy Chase and You're Not, Chase's daughter Caley described the incident as "rough and mean" toward the legendary comedian.

"My dad was super excited to bring me and my mom to the wrap party," she recalled. "We walk in, [Community creator] Dan [Harmon], he had had some drinks. He had gotten the whole cast and crew to yell, ‘F you, Chevy!' ‘F you, Chevy!'"

She went on, "I'm there, he's showing his daughter, like, ‘This is the show I did,' and we walk in to ‘F*** you, Chevy!' That's rough and mean."

Chase later left Harmon an angry voicemail about the incident - which the Community creator promptly played on stage at one of his "Harmontown" comedy events, according to TMZ. In the leaked voicemail, Chase blasted Community as a "fing mediocre sitcom" and called Harmon "a goddamn, asshole, alcoholic, fat s."

"The other part of the disconnect is obviously, you don't get my humor at all, or what it is I do that's funny, that actually makes people laugh," he complained to Harmon.

Chase went on, "I should have had this talk with you face to face, but I didn't want to because I really like you. I think your writing is great. I think everything you do is great. But the problem really is Dan that you're not there when we shoot, and you're not there when we edit."

"If you want me on this show again, I have news for you: I don't want it. It's just a mediocre f***ing sitcom," he added. "I want people to laugh, and this isn't funny. And it ain't funny to me, because I'm 67 years old and I've been making people laugh a long time, and I've been doing it a lot better than this."

Chase stood by those comments when TMZ caught up with him outside the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood shortly after the voicemail leaked.

"It was the right thing to say at the time," Chase insisted.

Harmon was fired as Community showrunner by NBC in May 2012, though his departure was not directly tied to him butting heads with Chase. (Harmon later returned as showrunner in Community season 5 following Chase's departure.)

"A few hours ago, I landed in Los Angeles, turned on my phone, and confirmed what you already know. Sony Pictures Television is replacing me as show runner on Community," Harmon wrote on Tumblr in May 2012. "Why'd Sony want me gone? I can't answer that because I've been in as much contact with them as you have. They literally haven't called me since the season four pickup, so their reasons for replacing me are clearly none of my business."

Why Did Chevy Chase Leave ‘Community'?

While Dan Harmon was fired by NBC before Community season 4 started filming, his showrunner replacements, David Guarascio and Moses Port, continued to have trouble with Chase.

Chase allegedly blew up on set while filming a scene alongside costars Donald Glover and Yvette Nicole Brown for Community's season 4 episode "Advanced Documentary Filmmaking." Chase allegedly objected to his character Pierce using a hand puppet in blackface. Deadline reported in October 2012 that Chase sarcastically asked if Pierce would use the word "n*" next. When cast members were upset by his use of the racial slur, Chase allegedly walked off set once again. (Chase later reportedly apologized.)

Joel McHale Got Into Physical Fights With Chevy Chase Filming ‘Community'

Community director Jay Chandrasekhar attempted to clarify that Chase's use of the racial slur was a "a political comment" in a 2013 interview with Splitsider.

"He wasn't calling anybody the n-word," the director said. "He was saying, ‘You guys are making me out to be a racist, and that's not something I want.' And in so doing, he used the n-word, and unfortunately that word is so charged that there were, in my opinion, misunderstandings in the press, and then it blew up into something that, in that case, shouldn't have. Now, he's had other issues in the past with the cast, and that's separate. In this one case, Chevy was not guilty."

Chandrasekhar offered a more detailed version of the alleged on-set meltdown in the 2026 CNN documentary I'm Chevy Chase and You're Not. The director alleged that Chase "said something" to Brown about the offensive storyline despite already having "history" with her about racial topics.

"[Brown] got up and stormed out of there," Chandrasekhar recalled. "Chevy storms off, so the producer is like, ‘We need Yvette in the scene, right?' I'm like, ‘Yeah, she's in the next scene.' And he goes, ‘Well, she won't come out unless Chevy apologizes to her.'"

While trying to convince Chase to apologize to Brown, Chandrasekhar remembered the comedian saying that he "used to call Richard Pryor the n-word, and he used to call me the honky, and we loved each other." Once the press caught wind of the blowup, Chandrasekhar remembered Chase angrily walking off the Community set for the last time.

"[Chase said] ‘My career is ruined! I'm ruined,'" Chandrasekhar recounted in I'm Chevy Chase and You're Not.

Nonetheless, NBC and Chase mutually agreed that he would leave Community with immediate effect in November 2012, Deadline reported. Chase was written out of Community by having his character die off-screen. (He eventually returned for a brief season 5 premiere cameo.)

How Did Chevy Chase React to Leaving ‘Community'?

Around the time of his departure from Community, Chase admitted to HuffPost UK that it was a "mistake" to come back to the show at all after his blowup with Dan Harmon.

"It was a big mistake," he insisted. "I just sort of hung around because I have three daughters and a wife, and I figured out I might as well make some bread, every week, so I can take care of them in the way they want … The hours are hideous, and it's still a sitcom on television, which is probably the lowest form of television."

Years later, Chase complained on Marc Maron's "WTF" podcast that Community simply "wasn't funny enough" for him.

"I felt a little bit constrained … Everyone had their bits and stuff," he said in 2023. "I thought they were all good, but it just wasn't hard-hitting enough for me."

Maron asked Chase to address rumors that there was on-set friction between himself and his Community costars.

"I didn't mind the character," he said. "I felt happier being alone, in a sense … I just didn't want to be surrounded by that table every day with those people. It was too much."

As for his current relationship with Harmon, Chase confessed to Maron that he had "no idea if we're OK."

"I've never been not OK," he insisted. "[Harmon is] kind of a pisser. He was angry. He called and said he was sorry. I love him now."

Chase spoke candidly about his allegedly contentious departure from Community in a New York Times interview to promote 2026 CNN documentary I'm Chevy Chase and You're Not.

"It wasn't a bad experience. I just didn't think it was that good, the show," he initially claimed.

Asked about the controversy surrounding his Community exit in 2012, Chase quipped: "I thought it ended great."

Later in the New York Times interview, Chase blamed the whole ordeal on "a misunderstanding of what I was saying and not saying" about the Community storyline involving a hand puppet in blackface.

"I thought that there was at least one person - and another who, for some ungodly reason, didn't get me, didn't know who I was, or didn't realize for one second I'm not racist," he declared. "They were too young to be aware of my work. Instead, there was some sort of visceral reaction from them."

How Did Chevy Chase's Costars React to Him Leaving ‘Community'?

None of Chevy Chase's former Community coworkers agreed to be interviewed for his 2026 documentary I'm Chevy Chase and You're Not, aside from director Jay Chandrasekhar.

"Every single person said no," I'm Chevy Chase and You're Not director Marina Zenovich told Bleeding Cool in December 2025. "I ran into Dan Harmon at a screening of Deaf President Now! and I got his number. I was so excited. I thought it was going to happen, but then he declined. I was so lucky to get Jay Chandrasekhar. He has such an amazing delivery, and he was willing to go there. If Jay had said no, I would have been screwed."

When the story of Chase's Community departure recirculated on social media in December 2025, his former costar Yvette Nicole Brown seemingly clapped back via Instagram.

"Why Did Chevy Chase Leave 'SNL'? Reason Behind Season 2 Exit Explained"

"Do your own work so you don't become labor for others.' That is my motto," Brown responded via Instagram on December 29, 2025. "Beyond that truth, if I have something to say, I have NO problem saying it. I've never had a problem speaking up and out with my whole chest when it is warranted or when I think it will change a wayward mind or some truly disgusting behavior. When I choose NOT to speak on something, it's usually because it won't change a thing and more importantly because it's most likely tawdry, low-vibrational or dumb and therefore BENEATH me."

Donald Glover told The New Yorker in 2018 that he viewed Chase's behavior on the Community set as the former SNL star's attempt to "fight time."

"A true artist has to be OK with his reign being over," Glover argued. "I can't help him if he's thrashing in the water. But I know there's a human in there somewhere - he's almost too human."

Chase said in response that he was "saddened to hear that Donald perceived me in that light."

During an interview on Larry King Now in 2013, Joel McHale suggested that Chase simply "did not want to be there" by the time he left Community.

"He said in every interview that he doesn't like the writing and he doesn't like the hours," McHale recalled. "He was really funny on the show … I got along with him very well."