Wildest revelations from explosive new Chevy Chase documentary as star insists he's 'not racist'

Chevy Chase is the subject of a new CNN documentary where he addresses a wide range of explosive revelations, including insights into his career and controversies.

The controversial Saturday Night Live alum, 82, is at the centre of the newly released I’m Chevy Chase and You’re Not documentary which aired on January 1.

The doc explored his rise to fame and dominance in the entertainment industry, as well as his lows and many controversial incidents.

The film’s director, Marina Zenovich, even got entangled in an abrasive moment with the star, with a tense back-and-forth at one point.

After discussing one particular controversial moment in the documentary, Chase spoke to The New York Times to insist that he ‘isn’t racist’ and said he had been ‘misunderstood’.

So what else did the documentary reveal?

Chevy Chase remarked that the director wasn't 'bright enough' to figure him out (CNN)

Chase alleges his mother physically abused him

Chase’s parents divorced when he was around four years old, with both remarrying.

The comedian claimed that his mother, Cathalene Parker, was abusive, with his wife, Jayni, who he has been married to since 1982, saying she noticed something odd when they first spent a night together.

She said: “The first time I went to wake him up, he shuddered.”

She noted that Chase explained to her, ‘My mother would wake me up slapping me' as a child.

Parker died in 2005, and when thinking about her now, Chase said: “I feel sorry for her. She had her own issues. But she was physically abusive to me.”

Cocaine use

Some of the people who worked on SNL while Chase was on the show from 1975 to 1976 noted that there was a lot of drug use going on behind the scenes.

Journalist James Andrew Miller also claimed ‘the person they worried about the most was Chevy. He was doing a lot of drugs.’

Chase was able to reflect on the highs and lows of his career and address some rumors (CNN)

As well as this, other individuals who had worked with Chase during his career, including producer Alan Greisman and his own brother, Ned Chase, also remarked that the comedian was using cocaine.

Chase confirmed as much in the documentary, saying, ‘every so often, we’d have some cocaine flown in from the mainland. Mail’s here!’

Details about his firing from Community

Community, created by Dan Harmon, was a popular show that ran from 2009 to 2015 and featured Chase as a main character alongside Joel McHale, Donald Glover, Yvette Nicole Brown, Danny Pudi, Gillian Jacobs and Alison Brie.

Chase’s character was intentionally offensive and bigoted, with many of his jokes centred around him being out of touch with his younger cast members.

There had long been rumors that Chase had been difficult to work with prior to his departure from the show.

Jay Chandrasekhar, a comedian and actor who was a director for the show, spoke about the tension on set and the incident that saw Chase fired after allegedly using a racial slur on set.

He said he was there directing the day Chase got fired and noted that Harmon wrote Chase’s character ‘a blackface hand puppet routine'.

"The character is a little tone-deaf … Had it been Chevy in his heyday, he would have been totally fine, right. He said something to Yvette, I know there was a history between those two, around race," he explained.

Chandrasekhar noted that both Brown and Chase stormed out, with Brown saying she would not return to set until Chase apologized.

There had long been rumors Chase was difficult to work with prior to him being fired from Community (NBC)

According to the director, when Chase returned, he said: “Hey, man, I didn’t say anything. You know, I used to call Richard Pryor the N-word, he called me a honkey, and we loved each other.’”

The racial incident was eventually leaked to the press, and Chandrasekhar claimed Chase had a ‘meltdown’ afterwards and stormed onto the set demanding to know who ‘f***** him’, claiming his ‘career was ruined’.

Having addressed the claims since, Chase said: "It was too great a misunderstanding of what I was saying and not saying. I thought that there was at least one person — and another who, for some ungodly reason, didn’t get me, didn’t know who I was, or didn’t realize for one second I’m not racist.

“They were too young to be aware of my work. Instead, there was some sort of visceral reaction from them.”

Health issues

Chase’s wife went into greater detail regarding the health issues Chase had been struggling with.

In 2021, Chase was hospitalized for heart failure, and there were fears he would not get much better.

She said: “Something was wrong, and he couldn’t explain to me what was wrong.

“So, we go to the ER. His heart stops. During those years he was drinking, he got cardiomyopathy, when the heart muscles get weaker, and they can’t pump as much blood out with each beat.”

Chase’s daughter Caley also spoke about the heartbreaking news the doctors gave the family.

She said doctors ‘warned' them to prepare for the worst.

She went on to say that Chase recovered, adding ‘he has basically come back from the dead.’