Chevy Chase -- Another 'Community' Rant, Drops the N-Word

Chevy Chase had another verbal outburst on the set of "Community" yesterday during filming, this time dropping the N-word during a rant about the direction of the show.

Sources on set tell TMZ ... Chase was complaining about the direction of his character, who he feels has grown increasingly bigoted as the years have gone on. We're told Chase was becoming uncomfortable with the material and was frustrated that his previous conversations about the writing had seemingly gone ignored.

According to our sources, Chase got so heated while discussing his character, he yelled out something along the lines of ... What's next? Am I gonna say the word ni**er?

We're told Chase apologized to the cast and crew for the comment, which was not directed at anyone in particular, certainly not the show's African-American cast members, Donald Glover and Yvette Nicole Brown.

Our sources say production was not halted at any point.

A rep for NBC had no comment.