Pete Davidson created an outrage after jokes regarding Texas candidate Dan Crenshaw’s eyepatch in a Weekend Update segment on Saturday Night Live. In a segment at first made headlines for Pete Davidson tearing up during this discussion of his break up with Ariana Grande, an off hand comment about Texas GOP candidate Dave Crenshaw. The comment jokes about Crenshaw’s decision to wear eye patch to make up for his lost eye, saying he looks like a hitman from a porno, and when the joke didn’t land quite as well as Davidson would have liked, Davidson added, perhaps ill advisedly, added “He lost his eye in a war or whatever”.
Crenshaw lost his eye after an IED blast in Afghanistan.
If we hadn’t collectively forgotten how jokes worked, it’d be obvious the target was Pete himself bc “I know know he lost it in war or whatever” is about Pete’s frivolousness but we’re all just being dumb on purpose now so go for it https://t.co/JXyhNr2pNk
— Mark Agee (@MarkAgee) November 5, 2018
Kenan Thompson, SNL’s most likable and professional individual, ran interference for Pete Davidson on The Today Show. Kenan said that in retrospect the joke was in bad taste (and given that it was improvised by Davidson, not sanctioned by the show or its head writers), and discussed how his own father was a Vietnam War Veteran. Kenan then talked about the importance of comedians being allowed to work freely and make mistakes — defending both Davidson and respecting the outrage over the ad libbed line at the same time.
"He definitely missed the mark," @officialkenan on the backlash Pete Davidson is facing after he joked about a veteran congressional candidate on SNL. pic.twitter.com/hBZbsTCLU6
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) November 5, 2018
So who is candidate Dan Crenshaw? Well, before he ran for president Dan Crenshaw ran racist pages on Facebook labeling Islam as a cancer, promoting Pizzagate, the conspiracy theory that resulted in a shooter invading Comet Pizza in Washington DC and and called Black Lives Matter a “black supremacy with white masters.” This is all outlined in quite a great deal of detail in this article from Newsweek from earlier this year. I feel as if this is very important to note before delving into the outrage which the GOP is to express on Crenshaw’s part.
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Crenshaw at first Tweeted out that he did not feel offended, but said he did not feel as if veterans should be punchlines for bad jokes. This ignores the fact that the joke is more about him running as a candidate rather than him being a veteran, and, as many on the GOP have done before, misinterprets the joke at being at his expense rather than at Davidson’s for his ignorance.
Good rule in life: I try hard not to offend; I try harder not to be offended. That being said, I hope @nbcsnl recognizes that vets don’t deserve to see their wounds used as punchlines for bad jokes.
— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) November 4, 2018
Crenshaw then says that SNL should give a million dollars to a charity for Veterans on CNN. No news yet about how much money Crenshaw gave to the victims of hate crimes after his comments about Black Lives Matter, or to the families of those threatened by the gunman at Comet Pizza.
after wounded vet Dan Crenshaw suggests SNL/Pete Davidson donate $1 million to a charity after making fun of him, Alisyn Camerota gives a reply straight out of post-breakup Arianator stan Twitter: "I don't know that Pete Davidson has a million dollars…" pic.twitter.com/dg2j1yNnaI
— Lindsey Ellefson (@ellefs0n) November 5, 2018
Pete Davidson is not running for any sort of office, and the joke was a clear jab at Pete himself and his relative ignorance about many of the candidates involved outside of their looks. Crenshaw is indeed running for office, and to ignore his racist and conspiracy laden views in favor of this story about a joke made on television, regardless of its possible questionable taste, feels irresponsible, especially in the aftermath of a series of hate crimes which have killed at least two dozen people and were inspired by right wing rhetoric.
As someone pointed out, Pete Davidson’s father died during his time as a first responder in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks in 2001. His comments on the matter were more biting than anything he could have imaginably said about Crenshaw.
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???????????? https://t.co/ZLqGrlBe5g
— Mark Agee (@MarkAgee) November 5, 2018
Well. What do you think of this? I had a strong opinion, maybe you had one too! Let us know in the comments or on Twitter at @WhatsTrending.
