Was Chevy Chase banned from SNL? What we know as comedian “hurt” by 50th anniversary exclusion

Chevy Chase, who was part of the original cast when Saturday Night Live (SNL) debuted in 1975 and who served as the first anchor of Weekend Update, said that he felt "hurt" for not being involved in the show's 50th celebration, NL50: The Anniversary Special.

The actor shared his sentiments in CNN Films' upcoming documentary, I'm Chevy Chase, and You're Not, stating:

"Well, it was kind of upsetting actually. This is probably the first time I’m saying it. But I expected that I would’ve been on the stage too with all the other actors. When Garrett [Morris] and Laraine [Newman] went on the stage there, I was curious as to why I didn’t. No one asked me to. Why was I left aside?"

Referring to the night's Weekend Update segment, Chase asked:

"Why was Bill Murray there and why was I not? I don't have an answer for that."

Chevy Chase calls out #SNL for excluding him from the 50th anniversary celebration earlier this year.

“Well, it was kind of upsetting actually. This is probably the first time I’m saying it. But I expected that I would’ve been on the stage too with all the other actors. When… pic.twitter.com/hpaiLfYhbY

— Variety (@Variety) December 23, 2025

He further shared that he texted SNL creator Lorne Michaels about being excluded, and "then took it back, I said, 'Okay, I take it back, silly," but deep down he didn't truly feel that way.

"Somebody’s made a bad mistake there. I don’t know who it was, but somebody made a mistake. They should’ve had me on that stage. It hurt," he added.

Chase, who was a main cast member during Saturday Night Live's first season from 1975 through the middle of its second season in 1976, was not initially banned from the show. Instead, he left during the show's second season in 1976, a decision he later described as a "mistake" in the documentary.

"It was a mistake to leave SNL," said Chase in the documentary.

Saturday Night Live's creator, Lorne Michaels, also appeared in the documentary, explaining that "The forces pulling him were money, power and all that, and when Hollywood wants you, they're pretty good at it."

Why was Chevy Chase banned from Saturday Night Live?

Two years later, after he left SNL, Chevy Chase returned to the show as a guest host. During one appearance, he had a fight with Bill Murray, which was driven "by competitiveness and mutual dislike," according to People Magazine, citing Nick de Semlyen's book Wild and Crazy Guys: How the Comedy Mavericks of the '80s Changed Hollywood Forever.

"It was a huge altercation. They were big guys and really going at it. They were slapping at each other, screaming at each other, calling each other terrible names. The best insult, which made a huge impression on me, was by Bill. In the heat of anger, he pointed at Chevy and yelled, 'MEDIUM TALENT!'" director John Landis, who witnessed the event, told de Semlyen.

Describing the incident to Semlyen, Murray added:

"It was really a Hollywood fight; a don’t-touch-my-face kinda thing. Chevy is a big man, I’m not a small guy, and we were separated by my brother Brian, who comes up to my chest. So it was king of a non-event. It was just the significance of it. It was an Oedipal thing, a rupture. Because we all felt mad he had left us, and somehow I was the anointed avenging angel, who had to speak for everyone."

According to Screen Rant, Chase also had a "bad reputation" for misbehaving with the cast members. One time, he even slapped the back of Cheri Oteri's head.

Although there was no official declaration of his ban from the show, Chase recalled in a September 2018 interview with The Washington Post that Lorne told him that he was "too old":

"He said no. 'Come on, Lorne.' 'No.' 'Why?' 'You’re too old.' I said, 'And Helen Mirren’s pretty and young?' I didn’t get it. You’re too old? We’d had many people older than me hosting. What did he mean? I’ve never understood what he meant. Because I’d be very good, and it would be fun for an audience to see me doing that."

Chevy Chase still went on to host the show eight times between 1978 and 1997, and made numerous guest appearances.