Community Star Hits Back At Chevy Chase’s “Not Funny Enough” Claim – Armessa Movie News

Community star Joel McHale responds to Chevy Chase’s comments about his negative experiences on the popular comedy series, saying that the feeling is mutual. Chase, who played Pierce Hawthrone, exited the show under a cloud of controversy by the end of season 4. The actor clashed very publicly with series creator Dan Harmon and allegedly upset his Community castmates with repeated use of racist jokes while filming. In recent comments, Chase spoke of why he left the show and why he felt unhappy on-set.

In an interview with PEOPLE, McHale responded to Chase’s remarks about Community. The actor, who plays Jeff Winger, said that Chase stopped hurting his feelings in 2009, which is the year that Community debuted. McHale stressed that there was nothing keeping Chase tied to the sitcom, and he could’ve left if that’s how he felt. McHale added that he wrote about his feelings on the matter in his 2016 memoir, and noted “Hey, the feeling’s mutual, bud.” The quote is below:

“He stopped hurting my feelings in 2009. […] I was like, ‘Hey, no one was keeping you there.’ I mean, we weren’t sentenced to that show. It was like, ‘All right, you could have left if you really wanted that.’ But yeah, you know Chevy. That’s Chevy being Chevy. I wrote about this in my book, but I was like, ‘Hey, the feeling’s mutual, bud.”

In an interview on WTF with Marc Maron, Chase addressed his Community exit. The actor seemed to directly address the cast and crew when speaking of his time with the show, specifically those he worked with, and his relationship with Harmon. Chase mentions that he was not happy with the writing of his character. On a more personal level, Chase mentions that he felt alone and didn’t like the group that he was surrounded by.

Yvette Nicole Brown was the first Community actor to respond to Chevy’s remarks, channeling her character Shirley on social media but noting she would likely never speak about Chase in detail. Chase had never been shy about his unhappiness with the show, mentioning his desire to leave before his departure actually happened. Reports at the time also indicated that Chase grew frustrated with the writing of his character as a bigot.

Related: Community: Every Major Actor Who Left The Show (& Why)

The show does its best to honor Pierce. The character dies off-screen at the beginning of Community season 5, leaving his study friends with thoughtful gifts and parting words. Most notably, he leaves Troy (Donald Glover) with the remaining shares of Pierce’s moist towelette company and that would set the stage for Glover’s own exit from the series. Even years later, it seems that the only thing anyone can agree on is that Chase was better off leaving the show, and he won’t be a part of the upcoming Community movie cast.

Source: PEOPLE