The Office star refunds more than $100,000 as Uncle Stan spinoff stalls
KickstarterLeslie David Baker, who played Stanley Hudson in The Office, has refunded more than $100,000 in fan donations towards his Uncle Stan spinoff, with the project now delayed indefinitely.
In 2005, Baker made his screen debut as Stanley, the forever-sudoku’ing, pretzel-loving grouch of The Office. He starred in all nine seasons of the NBC sitcom, with the show ending with him loving life as a retiree in Florida and carving wooden birds in his spare time – which is all of his time.
In 2020, the actor went viral for launching a Kickstarter campaign to raise money for Uncle Stan, a spinoff that’d follow the character as he tries to help his nephew and his two kids with running a motorcycle and flower shop. “With his business failing, his kids growing up without enough attention, and on the brink of losing his patience with the cast of characters he has working in the shop, Lucky is going to need all the help he can get from no-nonsense Uncle Stan,” the synopsis reads.
The project attracted $336,450 in donations, but three years on, fans wondered what was going on with the show’s development.
The Office star releases statement and refunds for Uncle Stan spinoff
Baker took to Instagram after the Kickstarter went viral again, this time from a user who simply wrote: “Remember this.” The tweet racked up 2.6 million views, and one user wrote: “I learned today the actor that played Stanley on The Office scammed people $300,000 with a promise of a spin-off featuring his character. I’ll never leave this site whatever it’s called.”
In a statement, he wrote: “We apologize about the delay in updates. We have been working behind the scenes to get everything on track and rewards fulfilled. We are just as excited as all of you to get this project out and truly appreciate all of your patience and support. The project took longer than anticipated due to circumstances beyond our control.
“Initial delays were caused because of the COVID lockdowns and pushed us back further than expected. As things started returning to normal and we commenced reward fulfillment and preproduction, the WGA strike was announced causing us to put things on hold again. As you are all aware, SAG is now on strike and we will continue to be on hold indefinitely until an agreement is reached. We stand in solidarity with those in the entertainment industry and will do our part in supporting WGA and SAG during these times.”
While Baker still intends to make the spinoff, “in light of the current economic situation,” he felt that refunds were “the best course of action.” Backers will still receive their rewards as well as a refund.
He added: “FYI, although the total funded amount shown on our Kickstarter campaign page was stated as $336,450.53, that was not the actual final amount we received. A large portion of backers’ pledges were lowered, or completely dropped and never collected once the campaign was completed. The final amount that we received from Kickstarter was exactly $110,629.81. The funds were never used for any purposes other than reward fulfillment and backer refunds, and have otherwise remained accounted for and untouched in the account.”
Baker apologized for “any miscommunication or inconvenience” and thanked his backers for their love and support.
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