The three-hour "SNL 50" anniversary special featured throwback skits, including a song from Adam Sandler looking back on the show's history.
Forty years after clashing on the set of "Saturday Night Live," Terry Sweeney is making his thoughts known about "ass" Chevy Chase.
Sweeney declined to participate in CNN's upcoming documentary "I'm Chevy Chase and You're Not" (premiering New Year's Day, 8 ET/PT) - but he didn't hold back in sharing his thoughts on Chase in a recent online interview.
In 1985, Chase, a member of the sketch show's inaugural cast returned to host. Sweeney, the show's first openly gay cast member, looked forward to it, he said in the "SNL" oral history "Live From New York," "because to us, Chevy was like a god." But when Chase arrived, he was "a monster," according to Sweeney.
By accounts, Chase asked Sweeney to lick his testicles. He "insulted everybody," Sweeney said in "Live From New York," and suggested a sketch in which Sweeney contracted AIDS and is weighed weekly.
Hearing the joke in CNN's documentary makes Chase laugh uncomfortably. "That's the worst," he assesses before expressing his hope that Sweeney is dead, "because I don't want you talking to him about this."
When a member of the crew suggests a reading from "Live From New York," Chase replies: "Oh, this is great, thanks. This will make my day."
Sweeney wrote in the book that Chase was asked to apologize and was "really furious" about that.
"None of that's true," Chase insists. "I would remember that ... that I was angry, that I had to apologize to him. ... My memory is that he's lying, is my memory. He's not telling the truth."
It should be noted that Chase's memory was impacted by heart failure he experienced in 2021. Documentary director Marina Zenovich told USA TODAY that she believes Chase's health issues influence his denial. "I think what happened with his memory loss plays a huge part," she said. "The circuitry kind of stopped and restarted again, and maybe some things got lost. Especially those things you don't want to remember."
But Sweeney is adamant that Chase is an "ass," as he relayed in instant messages to The Hollywood Reporter.
"It all reflects rightly horribly on him!"
Sweeney said, in reference to Chase's remarks. Sweeney also doesn't allow Chase's abuse at the hands of his mother and stepfather during childhood (covered in the documentary) to excuse his behavior.
"Boohoo ... poor screwed up kid ... so THAT's why he's so rotten!!!!!!!"
Sweeney told the outlet. USA TODAY has reached out to reps for Sweeney and Chase for comment.