Community Creator Dan Harmon Apologizes to Fans for Chevy Chase Feud: "I'm a Selfish Baby"

"I'm very sorry it's reflecting poorly on the show," he says of letting people in on an expletive-laced voicemail from Chase

By Natalie Finn Apr 03, 2012 11:44 PMTags
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Someone's been taking explanation lessons from Chuck Lorre.

In true vanity-card fashion, Community creator Dan Harmon has taken to his Tumblr to make an elaborate apology to his show's fans for publicly tangling with Chevy Chase—which, according to TV lore, started when he profanely chastised the star at a wrap party, in front of Chase's wife and daughter.

"I'm really not supposed to be commenting on the situation, which I think is great advice, because anything I say will extend the story's life and cause more fans discomfort," Harmon wrote. "But...it's conspicuously weird of me to say nothing at all about the giant fart with my name on it that you've been inhaling."

This one's got to be good, right?

"It feels dishonest not to acknowledge it, it feels rude to the caring fans of the show, people who are tweeting me their concerns that I've jeopardized something they fight to protect," Harmon explained.

"When that's not happening, when I've done something that hurts an audience, it's always an accident. So I have to just acknowledge my mistake and apologize for it to the fans. Even the people that hate the show that are tweeting heckles at me are right, I'm a selfish baby and a rude asshole and not a person to trust with your feelings.

"But the people that I really want to apologize to are the fans of the show. If you want to know what's on my mind that I consider worth the attention of five million people, that's the place to look, Thursdays at 8 on TV."

The Chase-Harmon beef came to light when an expletive-laced voicemail from Chase—in which the actor addressed being dissed by Harmon in front of everybody (Harmon said he was getting back at him for walking off the set of the third-season finale)—hit the Internet, prompting plenty of Chase fans to pile on Harmon via Twitter.

And now Harmon has revealed how that may have come to pass.

The writer-producer does a monthly comedy show at a comic book store—and it was "in that venue, months ago, that I made the horrible, childish, self-obsessed, unaware, naive and unprofessional decision to play someone's voicemail to me," he wrote today.

Chase "didn't intend for 150 people to listen and giggle at it, and I didn't intend for millions of people to read angry reports about it," Harmon admitted. "I was doing what I always do, and always get in trouble for doing, and always pay a steep price for doing. I was thinking about myself and I was thinking about making people laugh. I was airing my dirty laundry for a chuckle.

"Tat was a dumb, unclassy, inconsiderate move on my part. I'm very sorry it's reflecting poorly on the show."

He concluded, "I agree with [the fans] that the show is what's important. It's why I get mad when I get mad. It's why I'm happy when I'm happy. I will always do everything I can to make sure we get our six seasons and a move. I'm just really sorry that I'm so damn bad at that job in so many specific ways, and I promise you that every time I screw up at it, I try to get better."

Translation: Please sit back and enjoy the show.

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