SNL’s Pete Davidson on Kanye’s MAGA rant
Make Kanye 2006 Again.
That was the message from Saturday Night Live star Pete Davidson, who had words for Kanye West following the rapper’s controversial, politically charged speech after the show last week.
“Do you know how wrong you have to be about politics for me to notice?” Davidson said of West during the “Weekend Update” news segment.
Following his musical performance last week, West took to the Saturday Night Live stage after the cameras had stopped rolling. Videos of his speech emerged afterward, which showed West hitting a variety of political topics while wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat.
West suggested the show’s producers didn’t want him to wear the MAGA hat onstage. “They bullied me backstage. They said, ‘Don’t go out there with that hat on.’” Davidson denied there was any hat issue. “[West] started by saying that people backstage tried to bully him into not wearing it. He wore it all week. No one told him not to wear it,” Davidson said. “I wish I bullied him. I wish I had suggested it might upset people. Like your wife, or every black person ever.”
Davidson agreed that West is a “musical genius”, the same way Joey Chestnut is a “hot dog-eating genius”.
“But I don’t want to hear Joey Chestnut’s opinion on things that are not hot dog-related,” he said.
Davidson, who has spoken about his struggles with mental illness on the show, urged West to go back on his medication: “Take ’em. There’s no shame in the medicine game.”
“Being mentally ill is no excuse to act like a jackass,” said Davidson.
So how can Kanye repair the situation? Davidson had a solution, pulling out a red hat he said he made, emblazoned “Make Kanye 2006 Again”.
Even guest host Awkwafina had a Kanye slam during her opening number, knocking Kanye’s musical performance as a Perrier bottle.
“I was going to come out dressed as a water bottle, but apparently someone did that last week,” Awkwafina said.
Kanye’s response? Nothing. The rapper has deleted his Twitter and Instagram accounts. It has not been the first time.