A week after coming under fire for his controversial joke about Texas congressman-elect Dan Crenshaw on "Saturday Night Live," Pete Davidson apologized directly to the former Navy SEAL.
During an election-themed segment of "Weekend Update" last week, Davidson stopped by to give his "first impressions" of candidates such as Crenshaw, whom he compared to "a hitman in a porno movie. I’m sorry, I know he lost his eye in war, or whatever."
"I mean this from the bottom of my heart: I made a poor choice of words," Davidson said Saturday night, in his return to the "Weekend Update" desk. "He is a war hero and deserves all the respect in the world. And if any good came of it, it's that for one day, the left and right finally came together to agree on something: that I'm a (jerk)."
"Ya think?" said Crenshaw as he walked out for a surprise appearance, earning cheers from the "SNL" studio audience. "Thanks for making a Republican look good."
Crenshaw, who lost his right eye to an IED blast in Afghanistan during his third deployment in 2012, continued by telling Davidson "we're good" and "apology accepted." Jokingly, the congressman then refused to answer his phone when Ariana Grande's "Breathin" started playing as his ringtone. (Davidson and the pop star broke off their engagement last month.)
He then took a good-natured swipe at Davidson with his own "first impressions" of the comedian's pictures.
"Pete looks like if the meth from 'Breaking Bad' was a person," Crenshaw said. "Pete looks like a troll doll with a tapeworm. ... Pete looks like Martin Short in 'The Santa Clause 3.' By the way, one of these three is actually good on 'SNL.' "
Crenshaw ended his stint with a message of unity, saying "there's a lot to learn here."
"Not just that the left and right can still agree on some things, but also, Americans can forgive one another," Crenshaw said. "We can remember what brings us together as a country and still see the good in each other."
With Veterans Day this weekend, Crenshaw then encouraged people to say "never forget" to veterans, in lieu of "thank you for your service."
"When you say 'never forget' to a veteran, you're implying that as an American, you are in it with them," Crenshaw said. "Not separated by some imaginary barrier between civilians and veterans, but connected together as grateful, fellow Americans. We'll never forget the sacrifices made by veterans past and present, and never forget those we lost on 9/11 — heroes like Pete's father," Scott Davidson, a New York firefighter who died in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"So I'll just say, Pete, never forget," Crenshaw concluded, as the two shook hands.
