Now here's a case for mandating in-flight wireless across the rest of the airlines.

We've all experienced that moment, after hours in the air, of booting up our smartphone to discover we've missed the majorest news event since Hurricane Katrina. But Community creator Dan Harmon's in-flight ignorance last Friday extended beyond trending topics to his own employment status:

“A few hours ago, I landed in Los Angeles, turned on my phone, and confirmed what you already know,” he wrote on his Tumblr. “Sony Pictures Television is replacing me as showrunner on Community, with two seasoned fellows that I'm sure are quite nice… .”

Harmon, somewhat of a cult comedy figure with a big social-media presence, went on to refute the news reports that had so kindly informed him of his own firing. Not only had Sony and NBC executives never contacted him, wrote Harmon, but they lied to reporters about Harmon's “consulting” role going forward.

Here's what NBC's Bob Greenblatt said:

“Dan's voice to be a part of this show somehow. I'm just not sure if that means him running it day to day or consulting on it.”

And here's Harmon's response:

The important one is this quote from Bob Greenblatt in which he says he's sure I'm going to be involved somehow, something like that. That's a misquote. I think he meant to say he's sure cookies are yummy, because he's never called me once in the entire duration of his employment at NBC. He didn't call me to say he was starting to work there, he didn't call me to say I was no longer working there and he definitely didn't call to ask if I was going to be involved. I'm not saying it's wrong for him to have bigger fish to fry, I'm just saying, NBC is not a credible source of All News Dan Harmon.

You may have read that I am technically “signed on,” by default, to be an executive consulting something or other … .

However, if I actually chose to go to the office, I wouldn't have any power there. Nobody would have to do anything I said, ever. I would be “offering” thoughts on other people's scripts, not allowed to rewrite them, not allowed to ask anyone else to rewrite them, not allowed to say whether a single joke was funny or go near the edit bay, etc.

The show's fans have clearly chosen sides with Team Harmon. (And really, the side of “The Man” — a man who doesn't even inform a show's baby daddy when snatching away all custody rights — is not the hippest side to be on.) His post-airport Tumblr post racked up almost 12,000 shares over the weekend.

But Harmon assures his comrades via Twitter that the hard feelings don't extend beyond that “yummy cookies” comment. “THANK YOU to the most talented cast, most passionate writers and most loving fans in TV,” he writes. “Don't cry for me. I got a house.”

[@simone_electra / swilson@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]

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