David Spade Explains Commercial featuring Chris Farley

A new DirecTV commercial that places David Spade in a scene with Chris Farley from the movie “Tommy Boy” is causing some viewers to question whether the ad is in bad taste or not.

In the ad, Spade is sitting on the couch while Chris Farley, who died in 1997 of heart failure due to an overdose, performs his “Fat Guy in a Little Coat” routine, donning his co-stars small jacket which he busts at the seams.

In the ad, Spade says, “Great, I’m here with tons of fun, when I could be at home with my DirecTV … But no, I’m stuck with either cable or that (pointing to Farley). It never gets old.”

Entertainment Weekly writes that they “can’t decide if this is a sweet homage to a sexy moment or semi-disrespectful exploitation of the dead.”

But other blogs are certain of their distaste for the ad. TV Squad posted that the commercial is “unfunny … Plus, it might be too soon, and the way that Farley died.” On Buzzfeed many users responded to the commercial with the “Trashy” tag. The blog calls the commercial a disgrace.

Spade and DirecTV have noted the backlash to the TV spot. Asylum received a statement from Spade’s publicist that read, “When DIRECTV came to me and the Farley family with this idea about ‘Tommy Boy,’ we talked and thought it would be a cool way to remind people just how funny Chris was. It is a clever homage to my friend and a movie that we loved doing.”

Spade says he never dreamed anybody would be offended.

“Slight shock,” Spade said about the fallout from the ad, which some commentators saw as tasteless. “These commercials are cool. They’re well done. They’re clever. And that they would include Tommy Boy in that company, I thought was very flattering.”

Spade says featuring Tommy Boy in a commercial series that also has scenes from Back to the Future and Aliens “is so cool” since “we made this thing and people still talk about it.”

“Oh, my God if [Farley] was here, I guarantee he’d be stoked that this little movie is included, says Spade. The movie is important to me, and I would hate to offend [anyone] because that’s one of my favorite things I’ve ever done. So I would apologize to someone who took it that way.”

Still, he says, if he had to do it over again, he probably wouldn’t have made the commercial. “I wouldn’t want anyone to get a whiff that I’m trying to get something off Chris,” he says.

And we believe him. David Spade has a heart of gold.

He organized a charity comedy show Wednesday night at the Canyon Club in Augora Hills, north of Los Angeles. Hundreds of firefighters, who had battling Southern California’s recent blazes, got in free with their guests. Spade also donated $100,000 for a fund for injured firefighters.

“I kind of want to help these guys out,” he said. “And when I saw the fires this summer and I saw the sky was bad this was so overwhelming and so real. And they’re just on 24-hour shifts. I see them, and they sleep like on the ground, and I think that’s when it hit me to do something.”

In March, Spade teamed up with the esteemed Dr. Bob Meaders, founder and president of Operation Helmet to provide 3,000 of the very best blast/impact protecting helmet pads America can provide to our nation’s combat troops. A donation made by Spade of more than $100,000 provided funds for these helmet upgrades being issued to our troops.

The military helmet pads currently in use are so hard they cause pain, discomfort and headaches. Spade has decided to pitch in and help remedy the situation by working with Dr. Meaders to provide equally protective and wearable shock-absorbing helmet pads that drastically cut down the number brain injuries from IED’s, bombs, blast waves and vehicle accidents.