Legendary Saturday Night Live alum Chevy Chase is in hot water today after allegedly using the n-word while decrying his Community character’s bigoted dialogue on the set of the NBC show.
Chase reportedly did not direct the racial slur at any of his African-American cast-mates and was instead complaining that the show’s writers had gone to far writing offensive lines for his character, Pierce Hawthrone, and he feared they would expect him to use the n-word at some point.
The comic actor is said to have apologized to his fellow actors immediately afterwards. This is not the first clash between the 69-year-old actor and the makers of the show. He has slammed the acclaimed sitcom as “mediocre” and publicly feuded with the show’s creator Dan Harmon in the past.
Perhaps ironically, Chase starred in a classic SNL sketch alongside the late Richard Pryor, in which, in a word association exercise, he calls Pryor the n-word and in turn, the black comedian threatens him.