Nellie Andreeva’s explosive Deadline.com Saturday exclusive “Chevy Chase Drops N-Word In Tirade On Set Of ‘Community’” has quickly reverberated across the H/T universe, picked up by Entertainment Weekly, E! Online and The Daily Mail. But the most intriguing follow-up and debate can be found in the item’s reader comments.

A number of those chiming in are suggesting that Andreeva’s report about Chase’s alleged Friday on-set outburst and subsequent apology to fellow Community cast members is a “non-story.” Although the actor has been in the middle of several earlier, infamous flare-ups, a vocal Deadline minority are arguing that the context of the October 20 incident is different:

ray: not true. taken out of context. i was there.

jason: WOAH him complaining about his character being so bigoted that next the writers may as well have him say the n-word is not what you are trying to make this out to be.

GeeBee: If this is true, he used the word contextually, not racially.

Justin: I agree with what others have said – this is a non-story. It sounds like someone at Community is leaking information in an attempt to get Chase out of there. When the antics of an actor on a show generates more buzz than the show itself, then that show is on its way to being canceled.

Andreeva notes in her piece that “the racial content of the tirade does appear out of character for Chase, who once marched in the civil rights movement, but the blowup itself is not.” Read her full item here.

[Photo: s_bukley/Shutterstock.com]

Previously on FishbowlLA:
Dan Harmon Sounds Off on Being Fired from Community
Celebuzz Has More Chevy Chase Audio*