On Monday we heard a voicemail from Chevy Chase, sent to “Community” creator Dan Harmon, in which Chase cursed out Harmon for publicly attacking him in front of everyone at the Community wrap party for this season. It seems like Chase was just responding to Harmon cursing him out in a speech at a party by doing the same on Harmon’s voice mail. Sources from The Community set confirmed that version of events and claimed that Harmon was way out of line. The audio of Chase’s voice mail was leaked (you can hear it here, NSFW) and now Harmon has responded to this whole controversy.

I have to say that Harmon’s response (available in full here on his tumblr) is one of the best mea culpa’s I’ve ever read. The guy writes for a living after all, but his apology sounds so sincere and so self-deprecating that I’m inclined to believe him. He says he never should have played that voicemail for an audience, he calls himself an a**hole and practically acknowledges that he’s an alcoholic, and he tries to reassure fans that Community is not in jeopardy. In fact he writes that he “will always do everything I can to make sure we get our six seasons and a move.” As a fan, I’m reassured. Harmon also makes it clear that this feud with Chase went down several months ago. I’m just going to quote E!’s coverage as they do a good job of getting to the heart of the essay:

In true vanity-card fashion, Community creator Dan Harmon has taken to his Tumblr to make an elaborate apology to his show’s fans for publicly tangling with Chevy Chase—which, according to TV lore, started when he profanely chastised the star at a wrap party, in front of Chase’s wife and daughter.

“I’m really not supposed to be commenting on the situation, which I think is great advice, because anything I say will extend the story’s life and cause more fans discomfort,” Harmon wrote. “But…it’s conspicuously weird of me to say nothing at all about the giant fart with my name on it that you’ve been inhaling.”

This one’s got to be good, right?

“It feels dishonest not to acknowledge it, it feels rude to the caring fans of the show, people who are tweeting me their concerns that I’ve jeopardized something they fight to protect,” Harmon explained.

“When that’s not happening, when I’ve done something that hurts an audience, it’s always an accident. So I have to just acknowledge my mistake and apologize for it to the fans. Even the people that hate the show that are tweeting heckles at me are right, I’m a selfish baby and a rude asshole and not a person to trust with your feelings.

“But the people that I really want to apologize to are the fans of the show. If you want to know what’s on my mind that I consider worth the attention of five million people, that’s the place to look, Thursdays at 8 on TV.”

The Chase-Harmon beef came to light when an expletive-laced voicemail from Chase—in which the actor addressed being dissed by Harmon in front of everybody (Harmon said he was getting back at him for walking off the set of the third-season finale)—hit the Internet, prompting plenty of Chase fans to pile on Harmon via Twitter.

And now Harmon has revealed how that may have come to pass.

The writer-producer does a monthly comedy show at a comic book store—and it was “in that venue, months ago, that I made the horrible, childish, self-obsessed, unaware, naive and unprofessional decision to play someone’s voicemail to me,” he wrote today.

Chase “didn’t intend for 150 people to listen and giggle at it, and I didn’t intend for millions of people to read angry reports about it,” Harmon admitted. “I was doing what I always do, and always get in trouble for doing, and always pay a steep price for doing. I was thinking about myself and I was thinking about making people laugh. I was airing my dirty laundry for a chuckle.

“That was a dumb, unclassy, inconsiderate move on my part. I’m very sorry it’s reflecting poorly on the show.”

He concluded, “I agree with [the fans] that the show is what’s important. It’s why I get mad when I get mad. It’s why I’m happy when I’m happy. I will always do everything I can to make sure we get our six seasons and a move. I’m just really sorry that I’m so damn bad at that job in so many specific ways, and I promise you that every time I screw up at it, I try to get better.”

[E! Online, with content from Dan Harmon’s Tumblr]

I also want to just quote my favorite paragraph, which deserves to stand on its own:
“It’s important to me that you not mistake this for someone thinking they’re making it better, or explaining that they’re actually a swell person. I’m explaining that you’re right, I’m a bonehead, and it sucks, it blows up in my face on a regular basis. I put an unhealthy amount of stock in the opinions of strangers, that’s exactly what makes me do stupid things, and, poetically, that’s what makes the punishment so effective. Thirty people a day calling me an asshole makes me know and feel, in my heart, that I am an asshole. I’m a real “customer is always right” kind of guy in that regard.”

That’s awesome. People on E! are floating the theory that this could all be a big publicity stunt for Community, and that’s possible but I believe it’s genuine.

TMZ has video of Chevy Chase outside the Chateau Marmont last night, in which Chase gets asked multiple questions by the paparazzi about the feud with Dan Harmon. He completely avoids giving a straight answer. Chase feigns ignorance, talks to a few people, then says that his voice mail attack “was the wrong thing to say at the time, no it was the right thing to say at the time.” So he didn’t really address it at all, but he got us to talk about him.

Chase also said the situation was handled and that “I don’t have anything to say about this stuff … we got comedy to make.” TMZ points out that this probably means that Chase is still on Community and everything is well. Please let there be six seasons and a movie. I love this show, there’s nothing else on TV like it.

Here’s Chase outside the Marmont last night handing out tips. Credit: David Tonnessen, PacificCoastNews.com