The Office's Leslie David Baker is giving back all the money for his Stanley spinoff show
Baker said he made the move "in light of the current economic situation"
Leslie David Baker, still probably best known to comedy fans for his nine-season turn as Stanley Hudson on NBC’s The Office, has announced that he’s giving back more than $100,000 in crowdfunding money to fans who supported his efforts to make a TV spinoff based on the character. (Or, rather, on “Uncle Stan,” a character who would, from all appearances, have been more-or-less completely indistinct from Baker’s iconic Office grouch, other than trading out suits for Hawaiian shirts, and not being owned by the NBCUniversal corporation.)
Baker released a message on Instagram today, announcing that the project—which hit a “funds raised” height of more than $330,000 back in 2020—has faced a number of difficulties over the last few years, first in the form of the COVID-19 lockdowns and then, more recently, the SAG-AFTRA strike. And while Baker, in his note, writes that pre-production was moving forward, he also said that, “in light of the current economic situation,” he’s decided to refund people’s money, while also pledging to fulfill previously agreed-to perks and backer rewards.
Specifically, Baker will be sending back $110,629.81, which, he says, is the actual amount he and his fellow producers got from Kickstarter, after people lowered their pledges in the aftermath of the campaign. “The funds were never used for any purposes other than reward fulfillment and backer refunds,” Baker wrote in his Instagram post, “And have otherwise remained accounted for and untouched in the account.”
Rewards for the Kickstarter campaign included pins, T-shirts, posters, and other swag for the potential show, in addition to digital copies of the script, and getting followed on Instagram by Baker’s personal account. The campaign ultimately received support from 1,640 backers. (Meanwhile, Baker’s post made zero mention of one of his other recent ideas, Stanley Nickels, a cryptocurrency he rolled out in 2021 with fellow Uncle Stan star Sardar Khan—which does not, as far as we can tell, appear to have taken the crypto world by storm.)