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Photo Credit: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for Writers Guild of America East

Donald Glover References Chevy Chase's Alleged Use of the N-Word During Writer's Guild Awards

While presenting at the Writer's Guild Awards on Sunday, Donald Glover joked about Chevy Chase's alleged use of the n-word.

Donald Glover had the crowd laughing and cringing during the Writer's Guild Awards on Sunday (March 5). While presenting presenting Atlanta executive producer Paul Simms with an honorary award, the Swarm co-creator acknowledged that the honor was named after  former Saturday Night Live writer Herb Sargent, who co-created the Weekend Update segment with Chevy Chase. Chase was also a cast mate of Glover's on former NBC show Community.

“Chevy Chase once called Herb one of the funniest writers working in television,” Glover said. “Chevy Chase once called me—you know what, this is about Paul.”

Glover went on to joke about his time on HBO show Girls, also executive produced by Simms. "I was on the set of Girls after filming a sex scene for like eight hours, which they cut down to two minutes,” Donald said. “I’ve never seen any of the rest of that footage.”

“I asked Lena [Dunham], ‘Hey, what made you decide to work with Paul [Simms]?’ And she goes ‘Honestly, this nigga lets me do whatever I want,’” Glover continued. “And I remember thinking two things. One, Lena is using the N-word extremely liberally. Who does she think she is, Chevy Chase? And two, that’s the kind of producer I want.”

A rep for Dunham told the Los Angeles Timesin a statement that Glover was joking about Dunham using the n-word. “Donald Glover told a joke referencing Lena Dunham for last night’s WGA Awards,” the statement reads. “It included, for effect, language Lena never used, nor would use.”

In 2012, The Hollywood Reporter alleged that Chase, 79, apologized for using the slur in front of Glover and fellow cast mate Yvette Nicole Brown during an outburst over the development of his character, Pierce Hawthorne. A 2018 New Yorker profile on Glover would share that Community creator Dan Harmon apologized to the 3.15.20 artist after a “particularly rough night of Chevy’s non-P.C. verbiage." The article also alleged that Chase would make “racial cracks” as a distraction to Glover between takes of his scenes.

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