Joel McHale Responds to Chevy Chase Saying He Didn’t ‘Want to Be Surrounded’ by ‘Community’ Cast: ‘No One Was Keeping You There… The Feeling’s Mutual, Bud’

Joel McHale was asked by People magazine to weigh in on Chevy Chases recent diss of Community, the NBC sitcom they starred on together as series regulars for four seasons (McHale continued with the show for two additional seasons), to which McHale said: He stopped hurting my feelings in 2009.

Speaking onMarc Marons WTF podcast, Chase said Community wasnt funny enough for me, ultimately, adding: I felt a little bit constrained. Everybody had their bits, and I thought they were all good. It just wasnt hard-hitting enough for me.

Asked about his character, millionaire Pierce Hawthorne, Chase added, I didnt mind the character. I just felt that it was I felt happier being alone. I just didnt want to be surrounded by that table, every day, with those people. It was too much.

McHale told People that his first thought upon hearing Chases criticisms was, Hey, no one was keeping you there.

I mean, we werent sentenced to that show, McHale added. It was like, All right, you could have left if you really wanted that. But yeah, you know Chevy. Thats Chevy being Chevy I wrote about this in my book, but I was like, Hey, the feelings mutual, bud.

Chase was fired from Community after using a racial slur on set. Cast members such as Donald Glover have spoken out in the past about Chases problematic set behavior. Chase said on the WTF podcast he has no ill will against Harmon for axing him from the show.

I have no idea if were okay, Chase said, noting he hasnt seen Harmon since 2012. Ive never been not okay. Hes kind of a pisser. Hes angry. He called and said he was sorry. I love him now.

Glover toldThe New Yorkerin 2018 that Chase repeatedly made racist jokes on the Community set. According to the profile, Chase often tried to disrupt his scenes with Glover by making racial cracks between takes, one of which was the following: People think youre funnier because youre Black.

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, Harmon said at the time. I remember apologizing to Donald after a particularly rough night of Chevys non-P.C. verbiage, and Donald said, I dont even worry about it.

Was Chase difficult to work with? I dont think people really felt that way, Chase told Maron. I dont know what my reputation was among people. I just always assumed I was okay.

Harmon and the Community cast arecurrently gearing up to reunitefor a long-awaited film version of the sitcom. McHaletoldVarietyin June that Harmon and co-writer Andrew Guest had almost finalized the films script before development paused amid the Writers Guild of America strike. The film is set up at Peacock.