Terry Sweeney, Saturday Night Live’s first openly gay cast member, has spoken out about “rotten” Chevy Chase ahead of the broadcast of a new documentary about the controversial comedian.
In the documentary, I’m Chevy Chase and You’re Not, set to premiere on CNN on Thursday night, Chase is asked about a joke that offended Sweeney during the show’s 1985-6 season.
“You said something to Sweeney like, ‘Oh, you’re the gay guy. Why don’t we ask if you have AIDS? And every week, we weigh you,’” director Marina Zenovich reminded Chase.
Chase responded, “Terry Sweeney, he was very funny, this guy. I don’t think he’s alive anymore.”
When contacted by the Hollywood Reporter for comment, the 75-year-old—who is still very much alive—said, “Don’t you think he is saying this and making himself look more like the ass he is!!!” He added, “It all reflects rightly horribly on him!”
Sweeney was the show’s first openly gay cast member, having been out prior to being hired—he was also the only out gay actor on network television at the time. His role on the show came during a period of increased homophobia amid the devastating AIDS epidemic.
In the SNL oral history book Live From New York: The Complete, Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live as Told by Its Stars, Writers, and Guests, Sweeney details how Chase entered his dressing room to apologize for the joke, but was “furious that he had to apologize to me.”
Chase said of that recollection, “My memory is that he is lying, is my memory. He’s not telling the truth. That isn’t me. That’s not who I am. And if I am that way, my life has changed, because I have to live with that now for the rest of my f---ing life.”
Of the joke, SNL boss Lorne Michaels said, “I think Chevy was just being Chevy. He would say things that were funny, and he would assume you were comedy people, and he could speak that way. You know, we would say terrible things, because that’s what would make us laugh.”
Referring to a section of the documentary that recounts abuse Chase suffered as a possible explanation for why so many of his former colleagues dislike him, Sweeney said, “Boohoo … poor screwed up kid … so THAT’s why he’s so rotten!!!!!!!”
Chase is no stranger to controversy, having been fired from NBC sitcom Community in 2012 following an incident in which he used the N-word in a conversation with co-star Yvette Nicole Brown.
While none of Chase’s Community co-stars agreed to be interviewed for the documentary, Jay Chandrasekhar, who directed several episodes of the show, described the incident in which Chase used the slur while arguing that his character would have used it. Production was briefly halted afterwards until Chase apologized.
After a Hollywood Reporter story on the incident broke, Chase stormed onto set and had a “full meltdown,” according to Chandrasekhar.
“He goes, ‘Who f---ed me over?’ … My career is ruined! I’m ruined!’ Like, it’s a full meltdown. ‘F--k all of you!’ And I’m like, ‘Alright, let’s shoot the scene.’ He never ended up coming back after that.”
