Crenshaw gets apology on ‘SNL’
Comic says he made ‘poor choice’ in joke about Houston’s new congressman
“Saturday Night Live” can be sharp, satirical and even irreverent. The show, though, isn’t generally apologetic. That’s what made a segment from Saturday’s “Weekend Update” so shocking: Pete Davidson apologized in person to military veteran Dan Crenshaw, who was elected Tuesday as a Republican representative from Texas’ 2nd Congressional District, for a joke he made on the previous week’s show.
Davidson appeared on “Weekend Update” the previous weekend and offered some thoughts on various politicians, based on appearance alone. He targeted Crenshaw, who wears an eye patch: “You may be surprised to hear he’s a congressional candidate from Texas and not a hit man in a porno movie.” As the audience laughed, Davidson added, “I’m sorry; I know he lost his eye in war, or whatever.”
Many from both sides of the aisle demanded an apology on behalf of veterans, including Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., and Jack Pandol, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee. Crenshaw said he wasn’t offended but that he was disappointed that the joke was so lame and unfunny.
But Davidson remained quiet — until Saturday.
A shyly smiling Davidson slid over to the “Weekend Update” desk and said, “So, umm, in what I’m sure was a huge shock for people who know me, I made a poor choice last week.”
“I made a joke about Lt. Cmdr. Dan Crenshaw, and on behalf of the show and myself, I apologize,” he said.
“I mean this from the bottom of my heart. It was a poor choice of words. The man is a war hero, and he deserves all the respect in the world,” Davidson said. “And if any good came from this, maybe it’s that for one day, the left and the right finally came together to agree on something: That I’m a (expletive).”
Then, in one of the more shocking moments in modern “SNL” history, Crenshaw himself slid into the frame and said, “You?”
The audience went nuts. As Davidson thanked him for coming, Crenshaw thanked him “for making a Republican look good.”
Davidson then offered another apology, this time in person: “For people who don’t know, the reason you’re wearing an eye patch right now is that you lost your eye to an IED in Afghanistan during your third combat tour, and I’m sorry.”
The came an awkward moment. As Crenshaw accepted the apology, his cellphone started to ring. His ring tone? “Breathin’,” by none other than Ariana Grande, Davidson’s ex-fiancee.
“Ariana Grande,” laughed Davidson.
“Oh, do you know her?” Crenshaw replied.
Crenshaw then flipped the script by making a few jokes about Davidon’s appearance, based off some photos:
• “This is Pete Davidson. He looks like if the meth from ‘Breaking Bad’ was a person.”
• “He looks like a Troll doll with a tapeworm.”
• “Pete looks like Martin Short in ‘The Santa Clause 3.’ By the way, one of these people was actually good on ‘SNL.’ ” Then Crenshaw grew serious. “There’s a lot of lessons to learn here. Not just that the left and right can still agree on some things, but also this: Americans can forgive one another. We can remember what brings us together as a country and still see the good in each other,” he said. He added that it’s Veterans Day weekend, “which means it’s a good time for every American to connect with a veteran. Maybe say ‘Thanks for your service.’ But I would actually encourage you to say something else. Tell a veteran, ‘Never forget.’ ”
“Never forget,” Davidson replied. “And that is from both of us!”