Cocaine, fights, slurs and ‘handjob’ quips – why Chevy Chase is ‘hated’ in Hollywood

Chevy Chase became a comedy legend as the first breakout star of NBC’s Saturday Night Live (SNL) and would go on to become one of the biggest Hollywood stars of the 80s – but he won’t be winning any popularity contests

The actor, who turns 80 today (October 8) might be known for his hilarious roles in movies including Caddyshack, Three Amigos and the National Lampoon Vacation and Fletch franchises, but off-screen, Chevy is best known for rubbing people in Hollywood up the wrong way.

During his career, which has spanned more than five decades, Chevy has been no stranger to controversy. The Foul Play star has had a number of infamous feuds with his co-stars and colleagues, some of which have even led to physical fights. He’s also struggled with substance abuse, allegedly made racist remarks on set as well as seedy comments towards female colleagues, and has been dubbed a “genuinely bad” person.

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His poor reputation eventually saw his career take a hit, as he soon developed a reputation of being “difficult to work with”, was fired from his role on TV sitcom Community and was even banned from hosting SNL, the show that launched his career.

Fight with Bill Murray

Chevy’s big break came in 1975 when he joined the original cast of NBC’s Saturday Night Live (SNL) alongside the likes of Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi. The comedy sketch show was a huge hit and it was clear Chevy was its breakout star, with movie offers soon lining up he eventually quit the show after just a year — leaving mid-way through the second season.

In 1978 he returned to the show as a guest host but quickly came to blows with the man hired to replace him, Bill Murray. In an infamous fight, Chevy allegedly said Bill’s face was “so filled with pockmarks that it looked like the ideal landing spot for Neil Armstrong” while Bill poked fun at his sex life with his then-wife, Jacqueline Carlin.

The heated altercation escalated until the pair had to be pulled apart by John. Recalling the fight in a 2010 interview with Esquire, Chevy said: “Billy Murray and I came to fisticuffs, but we never really ended up hitting each other. We tried, but Belushi got in the middle and we both ended up hitting John. And if anybody deserved to be slapped in the forehead it was John, for instigating it all.”

Eventually, the actors ended up reconciling while filming the 1980 comedy Caddyshack. But Chevy’s issues with SNL co-stars didn’t end there.

SNL feuds and ban

During another return to the SNL stage in 1985, Chevy lashed out at Robert Downey Jr, taking aim at the actor’s late father, reportedly saying: “Didn’t your father used to be a successful director? Whatever happened to him? Boy, he sure died, you know, he sure went to hell.”

Terry Sweeney, SNL’s first openly gay performer, also claimed Chevy suggested he perform a sketch about AIDS the same year. In the book Live From New York: The Complete, Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live as Told by Its Stars, Writers, and Guests, Terry said Chevy told him about the idea, saying: “I’ve got an idea for a sketch for you. How about we say you have AIDS, and we weigh you every week?”

In the same book, fellow SNL legend Will Ferrell said Chevy was the “worst host” the show ever had as he claimed he’d made lewd comments to female staff. He explained: “The worst host was Chevy Chase. I don’t know if he was on something, but he was just kind of going around the room and systematically riffing. First it was on the guys, playfully making fun, until, when he got to one of our female writers, he made some reference like, ‘Maybe you can give me a handjob later.’ In hindsight, I wish we’d all gotten up and walked out of the room.”

Chevy returned to SNL a number of times but in 1997 he was banned from hosting ever again after he allegedly harassed female writers and slapped the back of cast member Cheri Oteri’s head.

The comedian’s long-running problems with SNL continued when in a 2018 interview with the Washington Post, Chevy hit out at the show’s current sketches, saying: “I had to watch a little of it, and I just couldn’t f***ing believe it. That means a whole generation of s**theads laughs at the worst f***ing humour in the world. You know what I mean?”

SNL host Pete Davidson hit back at Chevy’s remarks and accused him of being racist. He told Howard Stern’s SiriusXM show: “He’s a f***ing douchebag. F*** Chevy Chase. I hate that dude. He’s just a genuinely bad, racist person, and I don’t like him.”

He added: “What has he done since ’83? Nothing. He had a really big career but then it stopped because everybody realized he’s a jerk off.”

Drug addiction and rehab stints

During Chevy’s time on SNL, problems also started emerging in his personal life when a back injury he sustained on the show saw him developing an addiction to painkillers.

In an appearance on Bill Maher’s Club Random podcast, Chevy even admitted he’d kept cocaine on the set of SNL with him as he recalled how John Belushi, who died from a drug overdose in 1983, had once stolen his stash. He said: “Back then the big drug was cocaine. Obviously, John turned out to be coke head, but I had a little jar of cocaine with a little spoon that hung from it. I had it on the piano of the stage. So I’m just playing the piano, the crowd isn’t in yet, and it’s just sitting.

“After I played just a little bit, it’s gone. I had no idea how. Obviously, I was looking at my hands at the moment that John swooped in and took it. So I immediately said, ‘Belushi, did you take my coke?'” A month later, Chevy recalled how he discovered the vial “empty and washed” in John’s house.

In 1986 after his own spiralling addiction to painkillers, Chevy checked himself into the Betty Ford drug rehabilitation center. Looking back on what happened to John, Chevy added: “I’m so glad I just put that stuff aside.”

In 2016 the National Lampoon star checked into rehab again, entering the Hazelden Addiction Treatment Center in Minnesota to deal with an alcohol problem. In 2018, he told the Washington Post he was sober and ready to work again.

Feuds on Community

Chevy saw huge success in the 70s and 80s but the following two decades saw a decline in his career. His comeback eventually came in 2009 when he was cast in the sitcom Community.

He would play Pierce Hawthorne, an uber-rich, ignorant, rude and abrasive older man. Ironically, it seems Chevy came across in a similar way while working on the show, as his reputation of being difficult to work with continued to precede him.

The actor clashed with head writer and showrunner Dan Harmon about the direction of his character in a feud that would eventually see him storm off set during the last day of filming the show’s third season. Chevy also left him a scathing voicemail, which was leaked later on, revealing he’d called the show a “f***ing mediocre sitcom” and said it wasn’t funny.

Racism accusations

Dan wasn’t the only Community colleague Chevy had issues with. Back in 2013, Co-star Joel McHale accused him of using the “n-word” while on set, telling Howard Stern’s Sirius XM Howard 100 radio show Chevy said he had special permission from late comedian Richard Pryor to use the slur.

Accusations of racist remarks didn’t end there, both Dan and Donald Glover — who played Troy Barnes on Community before leaving to pursue his music career under the stage name Childish Gambino — claimed Chevy would attempt to disrupt Donald’s scenes and make racial remarks. In a 2018 interview for the New Yorker they alleged on one occasion, Chevy told Donald: “People think you’re funnier because you’re black.”

Dan claimed Chevy did it because he was jealous of Donald’s talent, explaining: “Chevy was the first to realize how immensely gifted Donald was, and the way he expressed his jealousy was to try to throw Donald off. I remember apologizing to Donald after a particularly rough night of Chevy’s non-P.C. verbiage, and Donald said, ‘I don’t even worry about it.’ ” Chevy was eventually fired during season four of the sitcom after allegedly using a racial slur on set, Rolling Stone reports.

Chevy Chase’s response

Despite his reputation, Chevy remains unapologetic and claims he doesn’t care what other people think of him. In an interview with CBS last year he was asked whether accusations of him being a “jerk” were merely “unfounded cheap shots”.

He replied: “I guess you’d have to ask them. I don’t give a crap! I am who I am. And I like … who I am. I don’t care. And it’s part of me that I don’t care. And I’ve thought about that a lot. And I don’t know what to tell you, man. I just don’t care.”

He also recently addressed his time on Community, claiming he “forgot” about being on the sitcom during an appearance on Marc Maron’s WTF podcast last month and doubled down on his claims it wasn’t funny. “I honestly felt the show wasn’t funny enough for me, ultimately. I felt a little bit constrained. Everybody had their bits, and I thought they were all good. It just wasn’t hard-hitting enough for me,” he said.

Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk