The Real Reason Fan Donations For The Office's Stanley Spin-Off Were Refunded
On "The Office," Stanley (Leslie David Baker) always looked for a way to get out of work. Now, not working has gotten Baker into some hot water.
In 2020, the actor launched a Kickstarter campaign for a spin-off of "The Office" that would've focused on Stanley. The show, tentatively titled "Uncle Stan," would see Stan come out of retirement in Florida to move to Los Angeles to help his nephew's business. It's important to note that NBC and "The Office" creators would own the rights to Stanley Hudson, so this Stan would likely need to be a new character who happens to have a lot in common with Stanley. With so many "Office" fans out there, the campaign quickly met its goal, raising $336,450 from 1,640 donations. Of course, that was three years ago, and there hasn't been any word of "Uncle Stan" getting off the ground.
Some even began calling Baker out for the perceived deception. Twitter user @pugmane wrote on July 30, "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." It must not have taken long for word to reach back to Baker, as he uploaded a message to his Instagram on August 1, explaining the situation and how he'll return the donated money to the backers in the amount of $110,629.81, which is significantly less than the $336,450 he raised. He asserts, "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."
Leslie David Baker cited forces outside of his control for no Uncle Stan
Launching a Kickstarter for a TV show in 2020 likely wasn't the best idea, as the world was in the midst of COVID-19 lockdowns. Leslie David Baker, along with Sardar Khan, who's listed as the creator of the Kickstarter campaign, wrote how that was a major issue in delaying production, and there were other matters outside of his control. He stated, "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."
He continues that due to the indefinite nature of the production, he felt the best course of action was to refund the Kickstarter backers. Anyone who donated to the project should be notified within the next few weeks, and Baker has remained in communication with Kickstarter to expedite the matter. Even though he'll give back the money, he stated how he'll still honor any rewards people would've received for their donations. And Baker still sounds hopeful "Uncle Stan" can get made one day: "We are just as excited as all of you to get this project out and truly appreciate all of your patience and support."
For anyone wondering what happened to Stanley after "The Office," Baker has kept busy, most recently doing voiceover work for "Fired on Mars." In 2021, Baker and Khan launched a cryptocurrency called Stanley's Nickels, with proceeds supposedly going to The Actor's Fund, but most links to the crypto have since gone defunct. It doesn't exactly help with the "scam" accusations.