U.S. Rep.-elect Dan Crenshaw appeared on “Saturday Night Live” to get some revenge and shake hands following last week’s episode in which a cast member mocked his war injury.
Criticism was swift after Pete Davidson joked that some people might be surprised that Crenshaw, 34, a U.S. Navy veteran, was “not a hitman in a porno movie,” alluding to the eyepatch that Crenshaw wears since losing his right eye during a 2012 deployment to Afghanistan.
Republicans and veterans groups quickly condemned the joke, with Crenshaw saying: “What passes for humor these days is not what used to pass for humor and that’s the big tragedy in all of this.”
Days after the show, the Texas Republican was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.
This week, Crenshaw joined Davidson onstage in New York City to put the incident behind them.
“In what I'm sure was a huge shock for people who know me, I made a poor choice last week,” Davidson said before Crenshaw appeared. “I made a joke about Lieutenant Commander Dan Crenshaw, and on behalf of the show and myself, I apologize.”
“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 of the respect in the world. And if any good came of this, maybe it was that for one day the left and the right finally came together to agree on something: that I'm a d---,” he added.
"If any good came of this, maybe it was that for one day the left and the right finally came together to agree on something: that I'm a d---.”
Next it was Crenshaw’s turn. After accepting Davidson's apology, he got a call on his cellphone - which featured a ringtone of the Ariana Grande song "Breathin."
Davidson appeared to be surprised but laughed in response.
Then Crenshaw took a few shots at the "SNL" star.
“This is Pete Davidson,” Crenshaw said as a photo of Davidson appeared. “He looks like if the meth from 'Breaking Bad' was a person,” Crenshaw said. “He looks like a troll doll with a tapeworm.” And then, “He looks like Martin Short in 'The Santa Clause 3.' By the way, one of these people was actually good on 'SNL.'"
“You’re not wrong,” Davidson replied.
Since Saturday's episode fell on Veterans Day weekend, Crenshaw told viewers the best way to respect service members is to tell them "Never forget."
“Never forget those we lost in war, and never forget those we lost on 9/11, like Pete’s father.”
"When you say ‘Never forget,’ you are implying that as an American you are in it with them, not separated by a barrier between civilians and veterans,” Crenshaw said directly to the camera. “Never forget those we lost in war, and never forget those we lost on 9/11, like Pete’s father.” He and Davidson then each respectfully told each other, “Never forget.”