Community’s first four seasons saw Chevy Chase starring as Pierce Hawthorne, the Greendale Community College central study group’s out-of-touch, often antagonistic senior member. However, Chase left the show as a main cast member following Season 4 due to behind-the-scenes drama, and after cameoing in the Season 5 premiere as a hologram, Pierce died offscreen. Nearly a decade later, Chase opened up about his exit from the comedy series, which included saying he didn’t want to be surrounded by “those people.” That prompted a response from co-star Yvette Nicole Brown, who played Shirley Bennett.
Chase discussed on his Community experience while appearing on WTF with Marc Maron, saying that he felt the show “wasn’t funny enough” and was “a little constrained” playing Pierce, as the material wasn’t “hard-hitting enough” for him. Eventually the SNL alum reached a point where he realized he “felt happier being alone,” then added that he “just didn’t want to be surrounded by that table, every day, with those people. It was too much.” Brown reacted to a headline summarizing Chase’s Community thoughts by saying the following on X (formerly known as Twitter):
He seems nice. 😂
If you haven’t done a deep dive on behind-the-scenes Community events, it’s worth looking into the conflict that arose between Chevy Chase and creator Dan Harmon as Season 3’s production was winding down. However, even ignoring that spat, there’d been reports of tension between Chase and other members of the cast and crew beforehand, including one incident where he reportedly dropped an n-bomb on set. Even though Harmon was fired ahead of Season 4 (though he’d reprise his showrunning duties the following season) and Chase stuck around for the majority of Season 4, eventually it was decided that he and the show should go their separate ways, and the Caddyshack actor said around that time that him being part of the sitcom has been a “huge mistake.”
Cutting back to this recent interview, it’s clear that Chase doesn’t care for some, if not all of his Community castmates, and judging by her comment, Yvette Nicole Brown isn’t surprised in the slightest that he said something like this. However, Brown made it clear soon after that she has no intention of sharing what her experience working with Chase was like, because when a fan asked if she’d ever spoken on the subject, she answered:
Never have. Probably never will.
So it’s unlikely we’ll ever hear Brown’s side of the story of what happened with Chase on the Community set, but it seems pretty clear there’s no love lost between the two actors, which is ironically fitting considering how often Shirley and Pierce butted heads. When another person said to Brown that the headline was “extremely misleading” and recommended she read the article itself, she responded:
I’m good.
Community ran for another two seasons following Chevy Chase’s departure, with Season 6 airing on the now-defunct Yahoo Screen after NBC cancelled the series. After years of fans championing for “six seasons and a movie,” it was announced in September 2022 that a Community movie is moving forward that will be released exclusively to Peacock subscribers. Most of the main cast members are confirmed to be reprising their roles, but this past July, Jeff Winger actor Joel McHale responded with an “I don’t think so” when asked if Chase would also participate. Between Pierce Hawthorne’s death and everything that went down behind-the-scenes all those years ago, this is hardly surprising, although I am curious to see if Pierce is at least mentioned in the movie.
Community can be streamed with either a Netflix subscription or Hulu subscription, and CinemaBlend will pass along updates regarding what’s in store for the movie once they come in. Keep track of the rest of this year’s small screen programming with our 2023 TV schedule.
