Chevy Chase isn’t hiding his disappointment over being left out of Saturday Night Live’s massive 50th anniversary celebration — and insiders say the legendary comic is feeling deeply wounded by the snub.
The 82-year-old former SNL star revealed he was upset after not being invited to take the stage during SNL50: The Anniversary Special, despite being one of the show’s original cast members and its first breakout star.
“It was kind of upsetting, actually,” Chase admitted in the CNN Films documentary I’m Chevy Chase and You’re Not. “I expected that I would’ve been on the stage too with all the other actors. When Garrett Morris and Laraine Newman went out there, I kept wondering — why wasn’t I?”
Chase, who helped define the show in its earliest days and became the very first anchor of Weekend Update, said he couldn’t understand why others were featured while he was excluded.
“Why was Bill Murray on Weekend Update and why was I not?” he asked. “I don’t have an answer for that.”
Although Chase attended the taping of the anniversary special, he wasn’t asked to perform. He later texted SNL creator Lorne Michaels to question the decision, but says he quickly tried to downplay the message.
“I brought it up once in a text to Lorne and then took it back,” Chase explained. “I said, ‘Okay, I take it back — silly.’ But it’s not that silly. Somebody made a bad mistake.”
Chase left SNL midway through its second season to pursue a film career, but returned multiple times over the years, hosting the show eight times between 1978 and 1997 and making numerous guest appearances.
Still, being left out of the historic milestone clearly stung.
“They should’ve had me on that stage,” Chase said. “It hurt.”
The moment has only reignited long-standing chatter in Hollywood about Chase’s complicated legacy — one that blends undeniable influence with years of controversy — leaving fans divided over whether the SNL snub was an oversight… or intentional.
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