SNL alum Terry Sweeney calls out 'so rotten' Chevy Chase as CNN doc revisits AIDS controversy
Sweeney reportedly responded, āDonāt you think he is saying this and making himself look more like the ass he is!!!ā
SNL alum Terry Sweeney calls out āso rottenā Chevy Chase as CNN doc revisits AIDS controversy
Sweeney reportedly responded, "Don't you think he is saying this and making himself look more like the ass he is!!!"
By Lauren Huff
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Lauren Huff
Lauren Huff is an award-winning journalist and staff writer at ** with over 12 years of experience covering all facets of the entertainment industry.
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December 31, 2025 8:05 p.m. ET
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Terry Sweeney; Chevy Chase. Credit:
NBC/Jamie McCarthy/NBC via Getty; Noam Galai/Getty
Terry Sweeney is not mincing words about the "so rotten" Chevy Chase.
In CNN Films' upcoming documentary,Ā *Iām Chevy Chase and Youāre Not*, Sweeney and Chase's decades-long feud is revisited, among other controversies. In it, director Marina Zenovich point-blank brings up to Chase the claims that he had allegedly suggested that Sweeney ā who was the first out gay cast member during *Saturday Night Live*'s 1985-86 season ā appear in a sketch on the show mocking the AIDS epidemic.**
āYou said something to Sweeney like, āOh, youāre the gay guy. Why donāt we ask if you have AIDS. And every week, we weigh you,'" Zenovich tells Chase.
She also reads to him from Tom Shales and James Andrew Millerās *SNL* oral history, *Live From New York: The Complete, Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live as Told by Its Stars, Writers, and Guests*. In it, Sweeney claims Chase later came to his dressing room to apologize for the AIDS joke, but was āfurious that he had to apologize to me.āĀ **
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Chevy Chase in 'I'm Chevy Chase and You're Not'.
In response, Chase says in the doc, āMy memory is that [Sweeney] is lying, is my memory. Heās not telling the truth. That isnāt me. Thatās not who I am. And if I am that way, my life has changed, because I have to live with that now for the rest of my f---ing life."
Chase adds in the documentary, "Terry Sweeney, he was very funny, this guy. I donāt think heās alive anymore."
Speaking to *The Hollywood Reporter* via instant message, Sweeney reportedly responded, āDonāt you think he is saying this and making himself look more like the ass he is!!!ā**
Sweeney added of Chase's comments in the doc, āIt all reflects rightly horribly on him!ā
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'Community' alum Yvette Nicole Brown speaks out amid Chevy Chase doc: 'Keep my name out of your mouth'
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In the film, *SNL* creator Lorne Michaels also speaks to the alleged incident, saying, āI think Chevy was just being Chevy. He would say things that were funny, and he would assume you were comedy people, and he could speak that way. You know, we would say terrible things, because thatās what would make us laugh.ā
According to *THR*, when asked about a different part of the film which claims that Chase was abused by his parents as a child and this is a possible explanation for his reported demeanor over the years, Sweeney responded: "Boohoo ⦠poor screwed up kid ⦠so THATās why heās so rotten!!!!!!!ā
**Ā has reached out to Chaseās representative for further comment.
***Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our EW Dispatch newsletter.***
*Iām Chevy Chase and Youāre Not*Ā premieres on Jan. 1 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CNN.
Source: āEW SNLā