Guest stars are nothing new on Saturday Night Live, but this week’s proved to be particularly special. Just ahead of Veterans Day, the sketch comedy series invited Texas Representative-elect Dan Crenshaw to cameo on “Weekend Update” — where he roasted cast member Pete Davidson.
Asked to comment on a picture of Davidson, Crenshaw zinged, “This is Pete Davidson; he looks like if the meth from Breaking Bad was a person.”
He also referred to Davidson as “a Troll doll with a tapeworm” and “Martin Short in The Santa Clause 3,” noting of the last comparison that only “one of these people is actually good on SNL.”
Of course, in Crenshaw’s defense, Davidson kinda had it coming.
On the Nov. 3 episode, the comedian pulled out a photo of Crenshaw, an ex-Navy SEAL who lost an eye in Afghanistan. He then joked, “You may be surprised to hear he’s a congressional candidate in Texas and not a hitman in a porno movie. I’m sorry; I know he lost his eye in war or whatever. Whatever.”
Davidson received backlash essentially across the board for the derogatory remarks. So, he cued up “Weekend Update” this Saturday in a decidedly different fashion: with an apology.
“In what was I’m sure a huge shock for people who know me, I made a poor choice last week. Nah, I did. I made a joke about Lt. Cmdr. Dan Crenshaw, and on behalf of the show and myself, I apologize,” Davidson said to the camera.
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He continued, “No, but 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. And if any good came of this, maybe it’s that for one day, the left and right finally came together to agree on something — that I’m a dick.”
Enter Crenshaw, who rolled in at that precise moment to say, “Ya think? Thanks for making a Republican look good,” before launching into the aforementioned roast.
He even let a phone call go to voicemail, revealing in the process that his ringtone is a song by Ariana Grande (aka Davidson’s former fiancée).
But Crenshaw wasn’t just there to get in a few playful jabs at Davidson. The veteran, who lost his eye to an IED in Afghanistan during his third combat tour, had a more poignant message to share with SNL viewers.
“But seriously, 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 still brings us together as a country and still see the good in each other,” he started.
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Crenshaw also encouraged viewers to connect with a veteran this Veterans Day weekend with two simple words: “Never forget.”
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“When you say never forget to a veteran, you are implying that as an American, you are in it with them. Not separated by some imaginary barrier between civilians and veterans but connected together as grateful fellow Americans who’ll never forget the sacrifices made by veterans past and present,” Crenshaw said. “And never forget those we lost on 9/11 — heroes like Pete’s father. So I’ll just say, Pete, ‘Never forget.’”
Davidson was 7 when his father, a New York City firefighter, was killed in the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
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