Terry Sweeney, the first openly gay cast member of “Saturday Night Live,” has reignited a long-running dispute with Chevy Chase as a new CNN documentary revisits allegations about Chase’s behavior during a 1985 hosting stint.
In an interview published Tuesday, Sweeney said Chase remains “one of those turds you flush… but it comes back up,” describing a work environment he still views as hostile. Sweeney has long recounted an incident in which, after asking who the “gay one” was, Chase pitched a sketch idea built around AIDS-related weight loss. In a February 12, 2025 interview, Sweeney said the room went silent and he walked out.
The upcoming film, “I’m Chevy Chase, and You’re Not,” returns to that episode and other flashpoints from Chase’s career, according to reports about the documentary. Chase disputes Sweeney’s account in the film, calling the allegation untrue. The documentary premieres Jan. 1 on CNN.
Director Marina Zenovich said the project offers Chase no editorial control and aims to confront the contradictions that have followed him for decades, from his rise on “SNL” to personal struggles that friends and family describe in candid terms. In the same film, “Community” director Jay Chandrasekhar recounts a 2012 on-set blowup tied to racially charged language and says Chase unraveled after details leaked publicly.
Sweeney’s renewed comments arrive at a moment when legacy comedy figures face sharper scrutiny, and when stories once traded as behind-the-scenes lore now play out in documentaries built for mass audiences. For Sweeney, the stakes have never been abstract: he has framed the 1985 exchange as a reminder of how casually colleagues treated AIDS, and how easily a “joke” could signal who was safe in the room.
