'The Office' Star Leslie David Baker Provides Refunds & Update on Kickstarter for Stanley Hudson Spinoff

Leslie David Baker has some bad news for fans who have been waiting for an update on his planned The Office spinoff.

If you were unaware, the actor, who played Stanley Hudson in the original hit series, launched a Kickstarter in 2020 to finance a series based on his character.

A series of delays slowed down the project and held it up. On Tuesday (August 1), he took to social media to provide an update.

Read more about Leslie David Baker’s The Office spinoff…

Leslie shared a statement on Instagram, explaining that he would be refunding the amount raised in the fundraiser.

The team intends to continue to issue rewards to anyone who invested in the show.

While the statement makes it clear that the Kickstarter will no longer fund the project, it appears that Leslie and his team do still intend to make the show at some point.

We’ll keep you in the loop.

Read Leslie David Baker’s statement below…

“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 statement reads.

“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.”

“After careful consideration, we have decided to refund our backers. As a token of our appreciation, for your support and patience, the Backers rewards will still be fulfilled along with a full refund. Those of you who’s rewards have already been fulfilled will also receive a full refund. In light of the current economic situation, we felt that this was the best course of action.”

The statement noted that refunds will be issued in the coming weeks.

“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.”

“We sincerely apologize for any miscommunication or inconvenience during this campaign,” they wrote near the end. “Thank you again for all your love and support!”

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