SNL’s Pete Davidson takes some laughs from Dan Crenshaw

snl pete davidson with navy seal dan crenshaw

“Saturday Night Live” finally had an episode that was nearly all funny, and Pete Davidson who came under fire last week for his comments on Dan Crenshaw, manned up to apologize with the former Navy SEAL face to face. It shows that conservatives and liberals can come together to find common ground rather than just trash each other on social media. Davidson sat and took some very funny shots from Crenshaw as you can see in the video below.

During a segment last week about 2018 political candidates, Davidson spoke in front of a picture of Crenshaw, a Texas Republican who wears an eye patch because of an injury he sustained from an I.E.D. explosion in Afghanistan. “You may be surprised to hear he’s a congressional candidate from Texas and not a hit man in a porno movie,” Davidson said. “I’m sorry, I know he lost his eye in war or whatever.”

Davidson’s remarks were denounced by elected officials and political organizations like the National Republican Congressional Committee, which called for an apology. In an interview on NBC’s “Today” show, Davidson’s castmate Kenan Thompson said the joke “missed the mark.” For his part, Crenshaw said in his victory speech on Tuesday that Americans “are not a people that shatter at the first sign of offense.”

In this week’s episode, which was hosted by Liev Schreiber and featured the musical guest Lil Wayne, Davidson returned to the “Weekend Update” desk. Referencing the controversial joke, he began by saying: “In what I’m sure was a huge shock for people who know me, I made a poor choice last week.”

He added: “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 was that for one day, the left and the right finally came together to agree on something. That I’m a dick.”

Crenshaw then took a seat next to Davidson and said, “You think?”

Davidson told him, “Thank you so much for coming.”

“Thanks for making a Republican look good,” Crenshaw replied.

Davidson told Crenshaw he was sorry, and Crenshaw accepted, but then suddenly Crenshaw’s cellphone rang: His ringtone was “Breathin’,” a song by the pop star Ariana Grande, who just last month became Davidson’s ex-fiancée. Davidson took the joke in stride as Crenshaw asked him, “Do you know her?”

And as Davidson did to Crenshaw last week, the representative-elect made jokes about a picture of the comedian. (“This is Pete Davidson. He looks like if the meth from Breaking Bad was a person.” And, later, “He looks like a troll doll with a tapeworm.”)

In a more serious tone, Crenshaw added:
“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. This is Veterans Day weekend. Which means that 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.” 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 will never forget the sacrifices made by veterans past and present. And never forget those we lost on 9/11, heroes like Pete’s father. So I’ll just say, Pete, never forget.”

“Never forget,” Davidson said, and the two men shook hands. Davidson then turned to the audience and shouted: “And that is from both of us!”