Chevy Chase’s daughter, Caley Chase, has shared her experience of a troubling incident involving her father during a wrap party for the NBC sitcom Community. In a recently aired CNN documentary titled I’m Chevy Chase and You’re Not, Caley describes how the cast and crew heckled her father as they entered the celebration.
Caley recalls, “My dad was super excited to bring me and my mom to the wrap party. We walk in, and Dan [Harmon], he had had some drinks. He had gotten the whole cast and crew to yell, ‘F*** you, Chevy!’ ‘F*** you, Chevy!’” She expressed her discomfort, stating, “That’s rough and mean.”
The show, which followed the lives of a diverse group of community college students, premiered in 2009 and concluded after five seasons, with a sixth season released on Yahoo! Screen in 2015. Chase, now 82, portrayed the character Pierce Hawthorne until his exit from the series in 2012, which followed an incident where he used a racial slur on set.
Director Jay Chandrasekhar, who contributed to the documentary, recounted that the heckling incident stemmed from a skit involving a “blackface” hand puppet that had been written for Chase’s character. He recalled Yvette Nicole Brown walking out in response to the situation. “I know that there was a history around race, and she got up and stormed out of there,” Chandrasekhar noted.
The conflict escalated when Chase reportedly refused to apologize to Brown, leading to tensions on set. Chandrasekhar recalled, “Chevy stormed off, so the producer is like, ‘We need Yvette in the scene, right?’ And he goes, ‘Well, she won’t come out unless Chevy apologizes to her.’” When asked by Chandrasekhar to apologize, Chase allegedly responded, “For what?”
Following an article by The Hollywood Reporter detailing the incident, Chandrasekhar described a dramatic confrontation where Chase expressed his frustrations, declaring, “My career is ruined! I’m ruined!” He reportedly lashed out, exclaiming, “F*** all of you!” and ultimately did not return to the set.
The relationship between Chase and creator Dan Harmon had been strained, culminating in Harmon’s dismissal as showrunner after a voicemail from Chase was leaked online. In a podcast interview in 2023, Chase commented on his relationship with Harmon, saying, “I have no idea if we’re OK. I’ve never been not OK. He’s kind of a pisser. He’s angry.” Harmon later reached out to Chase, and the actor expressed his current fondness for him.
In response to Chase’s podcast remarks, Brown took to social media, stating, “He seems nice.” When asked about her working relationship with Chase, she indicated, “Never have. Probably never will.”
This documentary sheds light on the complex dynamics and challenges faced during the production of Community, particularly regarding racial sensitivity and interpersonal conflicts among the cast and crew. As the series remains a defining part of Chase’s career, the revelations from his daughter provide a personal perspective on the behind-the-scenes tensions that ultimately contributed to his exit from the show.
