Saturday Night Live: Kenan Thompson comments on Pete Davidson, Dan Crenshaw

While Pete Davidson drew headlines on Saturday Night Live for talking about Ariana Grande, that’s not the headline that is still out there. Instead, the comedian / cast member is under fire for comments that he made regarding Congressional candidate Dan Crenshaw. First, he joked about his eye patch and his appearance (Crenshaw lost his eye in active duty); then, he seemed to discount his actual military experience following the original joke. The joke itself seemed to be planned; Davidson’s comments after the fact, however, did not.

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Earlier today, one of the show’s most-notable comments spoke out about Pete and the backlash, and was surprisingly honest in the process. While on The Today Show, the longest-tenured cast member on SNL in Kenan Thompson made it clear that he wasn’t altogether a fan of the joke, even if he supports Pete as a talent and person:

“My father’s a veteran, Vietnam, and I personally would never necessarily go there … It’s tough when you’re fishing for jokes. That’s how stand-ups feel that there’s no real filters out there in the world when they’re trying to go for a great joke … We try to respect that, but at the same time when you miss the mark, you’re offending people and so you have to really be a little more aware, in my opinion.

“He definitely missed the mark [with the joke]. I think he was more so commenting [afterwards] 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 anyone.”

Crenshaw himself has already responded to the joke online, and he also told TMZ that he wants to get away from a culture in society where there are rampant apologies all the time. If anything, this controversy has probably been more helpful than harmful when it comes to Crenshaw and his campaign.

A new episode of SNL is coming this weekend; Liev Schreiber is the host, and we’ll have more news on the subject soon.

What do you think about Kenan’s reaction to Davidson’s joke and the aftermath of it? Be sure to share in the comments. (Photo: NBC.)