Although none of Chevy Chase‘s Community co-stars participated in his CNN documentary, one Greendale alum has responded.
Yvette Nicole Brown spoke out Tuesday on social media ahead of the New Year’s Day release of I’m Chevy Chase and You’re Not, which recounts Chase’s firing from the NBC sitcom after he allegedly used a racial slur on set.
“There are things I’ve never spoken of publicly and perhaps never will. Anyone currently speaking FOR or ABOUT me with perceived authority is speaking without EVER speaking to me about the things they claim to know about,” she wrote in a statement on Threads. “They actually don’t really know me — at all.
“They also have no knowledge of my relationship with anyone l’ve worked with & cannot credibly speak on any current or previous issues. I hate that all this had to be said. In East Cleveland speak: Keep my name out your mouth,” added Brown.
Sharing the statement to Instagram, Brown wrote in the caption that if she has “something to say, I have NO problem saying it. I’ve never had a problem speaking up and out with my whole chest when it is warranted or I when think it will change a wayward mind or some truly disgusting behavior.”
Brown added in part, “I will not be saying another word about any of this mess… again, because it is beneath me. No one else should be chiming in on MY behalf, either. #RunTelDat”
In the doc, Community director Jay Chandrasekhar recalled that Chase had an on-set “meltdown” following the incident in which the former SNL cast member apparently used the N-word in a conversation with Brown.
While he didn’t actually hear the conversation between the two actors, Chandrasekhar says in the doc that he “was there, directing, the night that Chevy Chase got fired from Community.” Chandrasekhar says the event stemmed from a scripted “blackface” hand puppet bit involving Chase’s Community character Pierce Hawthorne.
Yvette Nicole Brown and Chevy Chase in ‘Community’
Mitchell Haaseth / ©NBC / Courtesy Everett Collection
Chase, as detailed in a Deadline report at the time, was unhappy with his character’s racist development, and said something along the lines that soon the writers would be having him say the N-word. Only he didn’t say “N-word.”
In the CNN film, Chandrasekhar, according to People, says, “I know that there was a history between [Chase and Brown] around race, and she got up and stormed out of there. Chevy storms off, so the producer is like, ‘We need Yvette in the scene, right?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, she’s in the next scene.’ And he goes, ‘Well, she won’t come out unless Chevy apologizes to her.’”
Chandrasekhar said Chase then claimed he “didn’t say anything.”
After creating the comedy series, Dan Harmon penned the long-awaited Community movie with former show writer Andrew Guest, which was announced in 2024 as one of 19 projects that will benefit from $51.6 million in incentives from California’s film and TV tax credits program.
Peacock officially ordered the feature in 2022, confirming the return of stars Joel McHale, Alison Brie, Danny Pudi, Gillian Jacobs, Jim Rash and Ken Jeong. Brown has also confirmed her return, noting in October 2024 that the script was “being reworked” to include her character Shirley. Chase will not reprise his role.
