- Washington Free Beacon - https://freebeacon.com -

Crenshaw Appears on SNL, Davidson Apologizes for 'Hitman' Comments

Dan Crenshaw

Former Navy SEAL and Congressman-elect Dan Crenshaw appeared on "Saturday Night Live" to bury the hatchet with cast member Pete Davidson.

Crenshaw, who lost his right eye during his third combat tour in Afghanistan, appeared on the SNL "Weekend Update" sketch alongside host Colin Jost and Davidson. The sketch started out with Davidson apologizing for a joke he made about the retired SEAL and his eyepatch the previous week.

"In what I'm sure was a huge shock for people who know me, I made a poor choice last week," Davidson said. "I made a joke about Lieutenant Commander Dan Crenshaw, and on behalf of the show and myself, I apologize. My poor mom. Can you imagine being my mom? That must suck. Can you imagine being Pete Davidson's mom? It can't be easy when everyone's mad at your son and roommate."

Davidson continued to apologize and said he was able to unite the right and the left in their backlash against him.

"No, but 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 of 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 appeared alongside Davidson and Jost.

"Thanks for making a Republican look good," Crenshaw joked.

Last week, Davidson was sharing his thoughts on Crenshaw during the Nov. 3 show's "Weekend Update" when a photo of the Republican appeared on the screen.

"This guy is kind of cool, Dan Crenshaw," Davidson said. "You may be surprised to hear he's a congressional candidate for Texas and not a hitman in a porno movie."

"I'm sorry, I know he lost his eye in war, or whatever," he continued, laughing.

The comments sparked widespread outrage. Crenshaw responded on Twitter by saying he tries not to be offended.

"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," Crenshaw said.

The Texas Republican accepted Davidson's apology on Saturday, but Davidson said it would only be fair if Crenshaw also poked fun of his appearance.

"Last week I made a joke about a picture of you, and I feel like it would only be fair if you got me back and made fun of a picture of me. Does that sound okay?" Davidson asked.

"I don't really need to do that," Crenshaw said.

"I deserve it, please."

"All right," Crenshaw conceded.

Crenshaw went on to make a few jokes at Davidson's appearance.

"He looks like if the meth from 'Breaking Bad' was a person," Crenshaw said.

"All right. there, we're even," Davidson said.

"He looks like a troll doll with a tapeworm ... He looks like Martin Short in 'The Santa Claus 3,'" Creshshaw joked. "By the way, one of these people was actually good on SNL."

Then the skit turned to a more serious note.

"But seriously, there's a lot of lessons to learn here. Not just that the left and the 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," Crenshaw said. "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. 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. So I'll just say, Pete, never forget."

"Never forget. And that is from both of us," Davidson said.