“Saturday Night Live” veteran Kenan Thompson conceded Monday that castmate Pete Davidson “definitely missed the mark” when he mocked Texas congressional candidate Dan Crenshaw, a former Navy SEAL, who lost an eye while serving in Afghanistan.
“I personally would never necessarily go there, but it’s tough when you’re fishing for jokes,” Thompson said on NBC’s “Today” program on the same network that broadcasts “SNL.” “That’s how stand-ups feel, there’s no real filters out there when they’re trying to go for a great joke or whatever. We try to respect that, but at the same time when you miss the mark, you’re offending people. You have to be a little bit more aware in my opinion.”
“He definitely missed the mark,” Thompson, whose own father is a veteran, continued. “I think he was more so commenting on the fact that the joke maybe didn’t land as hard as he wanted to, as opposed to being like, ‘I don’t care about veterans.’ I think Pete’s a very humble dude, and he’s got a big heart. I don’t think he goes out to offend people. But stand-ups are the ones that help us laugh through the most awful things in the first place, so they’re always fishing in weird places. That was an unfortunate outcome.”
“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
Davidson, during Saturday’s “Weekend Update” segment, compared Crenshaw to “a hit man in a porno movie” because he wears an eye patch to cover his injury.
“I’m sorry. I know he lost his eye in war — or whatever,” Davidson added.
Crenshaw responded to the joke and “SNL” in a tweet.
“Good rule in life: I try hard not to offend; I try harder not to be offended,” he wrote. “That being said, I hope @nbcsnl recognizes that vets don’t deserve to see their wounds used as punchlines for bad jokes.”
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
