Last week on the set of Community, Chevy Chase let his anger out at the writers of the show and asked out loud if his character would soon be calling Donald Glover and Yvette Nicole Brown the N word, although he actually said the word and didn't say the N word. Chevy didn't actually direct the word to anyone, but just said his character is such crap now that it might say it in the future. yesterday Chevy apologized to his castmates for using the word, but did not apologize to the writers. Just to have that word in you vocabulary where that is the word you bring out when you are angry makes me feel like he has used it in the past. Do you get the feeling the past few years have been kind of frustrating for Chevy? He has hated every second of being on Community and is not the huge star on that show or the focus and that is not what he is used to. It also sounds like he has not changed that much from when the rest of the SNL cast hated him way back in the day because he felt he was better than them.Unlike the last rant directed at his boss, this one was not recorded and released for the world to hear.
he's a huge asshole, and that's been known for years. however, to say it makes you 'feel' he's used that word in the past makes no sense to me.
ReplyDeleteeveryone knows that word. everyone's heard it. he was just telling the writers that with the way they're writing his role, that's probably next. i think this is a tempest in a teapot.
but if he hates what he's doing so badly, he needs to get off that show.
Am I reading it wrong? It sounds like he was making a point about the writing and not calling someone the N word. I don't believe whites or blacks should use the word but it's different if Chevy was making a point.
ReplyDeleteThat's how I read it too.
DeleteWith all I've heard about Chevy Chase, I can't say I'm a fan.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I'd have to agree with nancer. Chevy is understandably frustrated with his character, Piers, who is racist and would probably use the N word. At least the way the writers keep writing for him.
He didn't use it against someone in anger. I think he was making a valid point about his character.
ReplyDeleteRacism s very real and a very real problem. BUT having a racist character being so over the top and almost a caricature does the whole issue a great disservice. It makes it seem as though racism is completely dead and done except for some fringe crazies when in reality it is very present today. It's subversive and quiet and acting like it doesn't exist in main stream folks makes it so much harder to fight.
What a honky
ReplyDeleteHis character was originally written as someone who was a bigot because of the circumstances he was raised in. But Pierce has gotten progressively...less progressive over the years. Chevy hates his job but loves his co-workers. He's a cranky old man who storms off the set all the time. As the guy who helped create the Richard Pryor racist skit for SNL a million years ago, he used that word to make a point about how hateful he feels his character is becoming.
ReplyDeleteThe minute it took me to read this item and type up this comment is the longest time I've spent thinking about Chevy Chase in the last 30 years.
ReplyDeleteas a black person and former nigga, I'm not bothered. He was making a point. and in the open or behind doors a lot of whites use it. shiiit not only whites. cracks me up when other races are racist in America. he came up entertainment wise with Pryor, etc. I'm sure he's used it plenty. We asa society will suffer it in the name of entertainment, but once they yell cut it's suddenly off limits.
ReplyDeleteAs a white person I really need to ask. Why is it okay for you to use it? I have never used a derogatory term to describe another race, instead choosing to make fun of people for other things such as lack of hair or in some cases- four eyes. Why can you say it?
DeleteI'm not trying to be snotty, I'm really asking.
When a group is the target of a derogatory term, they sometimes will "take back" the word. It's a way to acknowledge and mock it and defuse its power. (It gets more complicated, because some black ppl do use it less in that way, more in a class-rooted derogatory way against others). But anyway - it's like queer, or dyke. A minority group trying to undermine the linguistic power of a more negatice part of society's dominant culture over them.
Delete...as a multiracial/black/mulatto/colored person... :)
That's what I don't get. I understand that people feel that if they use a racial slur that pertains to them, it takes away the word's power. But hate speak is hate speak. in this day and age aren't young people more likely to hear that word coming from a rapper than their grandfather?
DeleteIt just perpetuates the word's existence.
I can't stand Chevy Chase, but this is clearly a non-story.
ReplyDeleteHe may just hv a valid point about his character. But he himself is a huge pain in the ass, and thinks his shit dont stink. I, myself, hv never had occaision to use the n word, wldnt dream of using it, never ever heard it growing up, ever. I can honestly say say i never heard my father or mother use one ethnic slur ever. I didnt even know what they were when i was exposed to them, lol. And i knew, i just knew, if i were to ever say one ethnic slur, it wld be like saying the f curse on christmas morning in front of your grandparents. So i thank them for never filling my head with that crap.
ReplyDelete"Medium talent!"
ReplyDeleteNBC sacrificed the creator/head writer/EP of Community to keep this asshole on the cast. REALLY, NBC? That's why the peacock is in last place.
ReplyDeleteGo ahead and piss off the writers, Chevy.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait for your character to be blown up,pushed in front of a train or burned alive in a future episode.
Chevy is always going to be Chevy, he seems himself as a movie star not a sitcom actor. It kills his ego knowing he is reduced to working on a sitcom. At least he is honest about it and says in interviews he is only there for the money and likes the cast.
ReplyDeleteHe was making a point, an over the top point but a point. About the direction of his character. Not a refelection of himself.
The show's getting cancelled this season anyway, Chevy. Just roll with it!
ReplyDeleteHe & Richard Pryor did a skit the 1st year of SNL where between them they used the n word about a dozen times. That was back when the theory went that exposing something ugly robs it of its power. Another bad idea of the 1970's.
ReplyDeleteActually, the word is used exactly once. And it's considered groundbreaking. Probably because racism is not exclusively white.
DeleteI don't watch community, and I don't know what Chevy is like on a personal level, but in his profession, as a whole, his comedic timing and physical humor gave me much to laugh about and enjoy in the 80's and 90' s. There are lots of other celebrities who are a-holes and have never "earned the right" to be one. I give Chevy a pass if he has turned into a cranky old man.
ReplyDeleteI really can't stand this asshole. One of the funniest things was about a year ago when Oprah had a mini SNL reunion on her show and she brought him, Jane Curtin, Tina Fey, Tracy Morgan, etc. on the show. Chevy was talking about some nonsense about women comediennes, and Jane very obviously rolled her eyes slowly and dramatically. I died laughing! Considering how much of a champion of women she has been, and considering how much of a chauvinist and all around asshole he is, I can't even imagine her ordeal in having to put up with him.
ReplyDelete@Selock
ReplyDeleteI am so glad you brought this up. I was telling a story the other day about my BFF in middle school whose Mom is white and Dad is black. The point of the story I was telling was that it made me cringe when sales people (or just strangers in general) would assume her mom was MY mom because we were both white. I finished the story using the word bi-racial (describing my friend) and the person I told the story to thought that word could be considered offensive. Could you shed some light on this? Thank you :) :) :)
Just think back to the episode of SNL where Richard Pryor hosted, remember the classic skit where Chevy was interviewing Pryor with word association?
ReplyDeleteChevy: (some old racist term)
Pryor: "Honky"
Chevy: "N*****"
Pryor: "Dead Honky!"
I am a black woman, but as a human being I don't believe in being able to "take back" a derogatory word and using it in a new way. Words have power, they also have history. I don't understand how anyone could use words that were used to undermind, disrespect, oppress and harm people and think that because they have a different take on it now then it's suddenly ok. To me, it isn't! No matter what you are, black, Jewish, Irish, etc., imagine your ancestors and how hard they fought so that they wouldn't be labeled in those terms. How they fought so that you wouldn't be labeled in those terms. I'm sure in this day and age we are intelligent enough to find words that express our bond without going into the pain of the past to re-purpose. Sorry to sound preachy, but this issue is a sore spot for me.
ReplyDelete@jazzy I'm so glad to hear you say that. When I hear black people use the N word with friends, it doesnt reduce it's offensiveness the more they use it, it makes me cringe with embarrassment even though my ancestors (thank God!) fought against slavery and it makes the speaker sound uneducated and ignorant. I don't feel it's black people's word to use as they like, I feel it needs to be buried once and for all. I used to laugh at cracker until I recently found out the true origin and now it too makes me cringe.
Delete@ButterKwp & auntliddy agreed. That's also the way I was raised. Having had grandparents who were spit on as they sat in the back of the bus, it would break their hearts to hear that from my mouth.
ReplyDeleteI'm a white woman and I've gotta say, I have NEVER been mad enough to use that word. I have an internal filter that just won't let me say it. Now, if he had said "the N word" instead of using it, then I'd agree this is nothing. But as Enty says, the fact that it came so easily to his lips is somewhat shocking to me.
ReplyDelete@katsm
ReplyDeleteI just googled the etymology of cracker. Oh. My. God. I am cringing at how many times I have used that word. Insert big blushing emoticon here
@sunny did u also think it was from saltine crackers being white colored?
DeleteMy best friend and I, when we're by ourselves, just shooting the shit, sometimes try to shock the other (which is very hard because neither one of us shocks easily). Occasionally, we'll utter the N word just to see the look on the other's face.
ReplyDeleteThere isn't anything racist at all about it in our usage. Neither one of us even has a black person in our heads when we say it. We just try to come up with the ultimate taboo and anymore, this word seems to be it.
Hell, if the word "sandwich" had as vile and repulsive history behind it, we'd use it instead.
Some words do have power, but it's all about the context.
@katsm
ReplyDeleteYES!!!! Saltines!!!
I seriously can't believe nobody has corrected me before, unless they just don't know either. Either way, cringe cringe cringe cringe
This fits in nicely with the PC thing from a week or two ago. Now certain words are even offensive when one is making a point. Like the fact the word passes through your lips makes you evil when simply giving an example. The world's gone mad.
ReplyDeleteAlthough personally I am in the camp that says you should not use certain words. I can't even say the c word. So I'm a hypocrite too.
ReplyDeleteFunny, isn't it. When that whole feud blew up between him and Dan Harmon, it sounded like all the strife on the set was caused by friction between Chevy and Dan. Now Dan's gone and there's still strife on the set. Hmm. It's almost like they fired the wrong person or something.
ReplyDeleteJazzy is correct.
ReplyDelete"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me"
..WRONG.
Words cut. They hurt. Just because they leave bruises you can't see doesn't mean the bruises don't exist.
I'm really surprised that everyone is parsing and excusing what he said. Why isn't he given the Isiah Washington treatment? Why isn't he "encouraged" to do a PSA, immediately kicked off this show and banned from ever working on television again? Why are you soft peddling this issue? Why is he getting a pass?
ReplyDeleteAnd I co-sign with Jazzy. I'll add that the N word wasn't just said but usually accompanied with some sort of action as well be it mental (not wanting a black person to eat at your restaurant), verbal (saying the is booked or there's a private party), or physical (barring black people from entering the restaurant).
I agree with Enty, I don't think he would have used that word unless he felt pretty comfortable saying it. If he had said "the N word," he would've gotten across his point equally well. I could never say that word under any circumstances.
ReplyDeleteAre you kidding me? He said it in disgust at the writing, suggesting the writers would be that tasteless (they would), and that he would find it offensive.
ReplyDeleteCommunity sucks. NBC sucks, actually. Glad someone called the peacock network out. Revolution is one teeny tiny exception, but I fully expect NBC to torpedo that project.
It's not illegal and words from our language will never be and should never be banned. It is equally absurd to refer to a word with an initial., ie "the n word ". Your choice of how you choose words reveals both your character and your intellect. The day we start referring to words via initials we have lost a measure of intellect. Either use it or don't. Chevy is a known jerk. But I defend his right to be one. Doesn't mean I have to buy what he's selling.
ReplyDeleteThe N word is hateful and shouldn't be used, and if he'd used it while throwing someone against a wall in a tirade he would obviously need to be fired on the spot. Using the word to illustrate that it shouldn't be used is different. I think the news here is that Chevy is still being a pain in the ass. The regression of Chevy's character on the show is a direct result of the writing staff's opinion of him and his tolerability. He started out as a comically cantankerous old curmudgeon and now he's easily the worst character on the show. That's his fault for screwing with his writers. When stories like this leak from set it makes me think they do it just to get back at him for being such a constant dick.
ReplyDeleteGood point, AgentShit. *eye roll*
ReplyDeleteNBC sacrificed the creator/head writer/EP of Community to keep this asshole on the cast.
ReplyDeleteUh, no. They fired him because he was a pain in the ass to work with, and only becoming more difficult with time. Even Dan Harmon admits that if he were in NBC's shoes, he would have fired himself, too. It was NEVER a Chevy goes or Dan goes situation.
I thought Community was in limbo/cancelled, but MAYBE coming back so this suggests it will be back if they are writing/filming/meeting about it, right?
ReplyDelete