I always thought the reports about Chase were exaggerated, but apparently its not. There was a Community reunion/virtual table read recently and he was the only one of the main cast that was not invited to participate because everyone on the cast still dislikes/hates him, 5 years since the show ended. They don't even mention him.
Also watch the Friars Club Roast of him, if you want some serious cringe comedy that is almost painful to watch. If you know roasts, they are mainly good natured mocking of the target of the roast, where your friends make fun of you but everyone, including the roastee, is supposed to have a good time.
None of Chevy Chase's friends (as if he has any) showed up and everyone who did isn't just roasting him, but absolutely utterly hating his guts and taking revenge on him like he molested them as a kid. It is the most vicious, hateful roast I've ever seen. It makes the fairly nasty Correspondents' Dinner roast of George W. Bush look friendly.
Stories about actors vary up and down; there's claims for nearly every type of behavior pointed at every type of actor. Off the top of my head, the few "genuine ones" would be Clark Gable, Lloyd Bridges and Jimmy Stewart. Know what "skeleton in his closet" Jimmy Stewart has? That he
probably crewed a B52 Arc Light strike over Vietnam. Bad. Ass.
The point is that you can believe or disbelieve all you want. For years people figured, well, Fatty Arbuckle was a child rapist and killer, until it was revealed that whoops! No he wasn't, everything was a lie created just to wreck his career, just because. He was a genuinely decent person who was ruined on a whim.
AND THEN THERE'S CHEVY CHASE.
Every bad thing you might have heard about Chase is entirely true. The guy turned being a class A 100% certifiable
fucking asshole into an art form. He's the comedic, American version of Klaus Kinski, who was equally vicious and nasty. Chase left SNL just as it was taking off (fine, that's fine) came back, and backstage, started a fist-fight with Bill Murray because (at the time) Chase was a "hollywood movie-star" and he had some choice things to say about "TV actors".
Chase has been Roasted twice, but the second one, the Comedy Central roast, was absolutely 100% deserved. I have seen Chase in media being given opportunity after opportunity to not be a complete and entire schmuck and have never seen him not completely go 180' the other way. Interviews both print and video, he comes over as not
an abrasive individual but the Platonic Ideal abrasive individual. Like, deliberately so. I'd call it sociopathy but I'm not a doctor.
So if you ever hear someone say "I heard Chevy Chase was a real asshole," you can confirm to them that it is entirely true. There's just no redeeming that guy.