Terry Sweeney, a prominent SNL cast member during the early 1980s as well as the first openly gay comedian to star on the show, is clapping back against Chevy Chase’s recent claims that he “lied” about Chase’s allegedly offensive backstage behavior.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the 82-year-old Chase was asked to share his thoughts about Sweeney’s claims asserting that Chase had made several crude comments about Sweeney’s sexuality and the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s.
“You said something to Sweeney like, ‘Oh, you’re the gay guy. Why don’t we ask if you have AIDS? And every week, we weigh you,’” the documentary’s director, Marina Zenovich, said to Chase.
For further context, Zenovich also read to Chase a section of Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller’s SNL oral history, Live From New York: The Complete, Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live as Told by Its Stars, Writers, and Guests.
In said book, the authors reiterate Sweeney’s claims, as well as mentioning that Chase was forced to apologize to the comedian, even though he was “furious that he had to apologize to me,” per Sweeney.
In response, Chase remarked, “My memory is that he is lying, is my memory. He’s not telling the truth. That isn’t me. That’s 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.”
At another point in the documentary, Chase said of Sweeney, “He was very funny, this guy. I don’t think he’s alive anymore.”
Responding to Chase’s documentary claims, the still very much alive Sweeney told THR, “Don’t you think he is saying this and making himself look more like the a** he is!!!”
“It all reflects rightly horribly on him!” the 75-year-old Sweeney added.
When THR asked for Sweeney’s thoughts on Chase’s rough childhood (something brought up in the documentary as a potential explanation behind the comedian’s difficult exterior), Sweeney said, “Boohoo … poor screwed up kid … so THAT’s why he’s so rotten!!!!!!!”
This story was originally published by Parade on Jan 2, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.