Chevy Chase Is ‘Trying to Prove He’s Changed’ After New Doc Exposed His Legendary Bad Behavior

Chevy Chase still isn’t ready for prime time after his big attempt at a comeback, a CNN documentary about his career, backfired and instead exposed decades of his gratuitously cruel behavior.

The 82-year-old comedy legend is panicking that the film, I’m Chevy Chase and You’re Not, has been a fiasco, dredging up a lot of bad blood and that he’ll forever be remembered as an a-hole.

“Chevy wanted to finally put his version of events on record. He was sure people would soften toward him, but he completely underestimated how raw all those old wounds still are,” an insider tells the National Enquirer. “Instead of rehabbing his image, it’s only made things worse.”

The documentary traces his obnoxious, rude behavior starting with his days on Saturday Night Live in 1975.

“The film has given all the stories about his awful behavior over the years even more credibility,” says a source. “He’s been on this salvation tour in recent years, trying to prove he’s changed, and it’s true that he’s mellowed out an awful lot, mostly thanks to his wife’s endless patience.”

The Caddyshack star has been married to third wife Jayni since 1982.

“But he still has a huge ego and that was on full display in his documentary. It trips him up again and again,” says the source.

One of the most horrifying anecdotes was when he returned to host SNL in 1985 and began mocking and abusing Terry Sweeney, the show’s first openly gay cast member. He even proposed a sketch about Sweeney having AIDS and getting on a scale every week to see if he was losing weight due to the disease, per Daily Mail.

And his offensive behavior didn’t improve over the years. In 2014, unhappy with his Community character’s racist story arc, he used the N-word with costar Yvette Nicole Brown in a heated conversation, the show’s director Jay Chandrasekhar recalled. Chase was fired on the spot, according to Deadline.

So not only has the Vacation alum’s attempt at an image makeover been a bust, but “apparently now there are other people threatening to come forward to skewer him,” says the source. “He should have just let sleeping dogs lie, but he’s only made things much worse.”