I don't really see what there is to get up in arms about in this memo. The actors weren't given the information or consulted, and it's totally standard not to give away season spoilers ahead of time. I mean, they're not telling the actors to lie or anything. It's more like, they're giving them concise answers so they don't have to speculate.

And the whole "bringing it back to a positive note about next season" is totally standard PR stuff. Definitely to be expected.

The studio is not telling people that Dan was fired for X reason or Y reason. It's not telling people to bad-mouth Dan in any way. It's just reminding people (I assume truthfully) that they don't know the exact reasons behind Dan's firing, and they didn't have anything to do with it.

I mean, how would you expect them to respond to those questions anyway? Would you prefer that when asked, "Were you aware that Dan was going to be let go?" Joel McHale answer with, "Yeah, we had an inkling. Dan had a slightly different vision for the show than the higher-ups, but he doesn't have the tact to behave himself around the people who are his bosses."

We often got frustrated with Dan for butting heads a bit too frequently with those he worked with. It's a dangerous game to play, and we always knew it was the kind of behavior that takes you out eventually. We didn't advocate him bad-mouthing the studio back then, and we shouldn't advocate the current actors bad-mouthing the studio here.

It just seems like this memo really shouldn't be a controversy. It's just palatable, non-confrontational truth, isn't it? (except for the "but lets look forward to next season" tacked onto every response, which screams corporate PR, but is completely normal for any topical interview)