Dan Crenshaw, the veteran whose war wounds were the focus of a joke by Pete Davidson on “Saturday Night Live,” easily won his Texas Congressional race on Tuesday.
On a night when Democrats scored enough seats to regain control of the House, Crenshaw, who gained national attention after the joke Saturday, easily beat Democratic rival Todd Litton, the Associated Press reported. The “SNL” joke probably made no difference, as Crenshaw had already been expected to win.
But the joke over the weekend helped raise the national profile of Crenshaw, a Navy SEAL who lost his right eye in Afghanistan when he was hit by an IED blast.
During a “Weekend Update” routine, Davidson said of Crenshaw: “This guy is kinda cool, Dan Crenshaw. You may be surprised to hear he’s a congressional candidate from Texas, and not a hit man in a porno movie. I’m sorry, I know he lost his eye in war, or whatever.”
In an interview Tuesday night with Houston’s Fox 26, Crenshaw said that “SEALs don’t get offended. It’s just not what we do. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t offensive, but let’s stop demanding apologies and firings of people. Let’s just… demand that comedy actually be funny, but let’s be good people.”
Live chat with Dan Crenshaw after his victory speech: pic.twitter.com/03wnzLXnWc
— Ivory Hecker (@IvoryHecker) November 7, 2018
In an appearance on CNN on Monday, Crenshaw said he would not “demand an apology,” though Davidson “probably should apologize.”
“I don’t want some hollow apology,” he said. But he suggested that “SNL” donate money to veterans groups.
“I think what [Davidson] and maybe the producers at SNL should do is pool their money together, let’s throw a figure out there — a million dollars — and we will donate that to a series of veterans non-profits that helps veterans,” Crenshaw said.
Davidson’s “SNL” castmate Kenan Thompson addressed the joke on the “Today” show.
“[Davidson] definitely missed the mark,” Thompson said. “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.”
Thompson added that it “definitely seems” like Davidson crossed a line: “My father’s a veteran, Vietnam, and I personally would never necessarily go there, but it’s tough when you’re fishing for jokes — like that’s how standups feel like there’s no real filters out there in the world when they’re trying to go for a great joke or whatever and we try to respect that but at the same time, when you miss the mark, you’re offending people so you have to really be a little more aware in my opinion.”
NBC declined TheWrap’s request for comment and Davidson did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.