Keenan Thompson Didn't Like Pete Davidson's Veteran Joke, Either
by EG
Pete Davidson stumbled through a bit on last weekend's Saturday Night Live, and he ended the bit with an awkward personal message to his ex-fiancee Ariana Grande. But the part of the bit that got the most negative attention was Davidson's mockery of a war veteran's injury. For SNL castmate Keenan Thompson, the problem was that Davidson was "fishing for jokes." Read on for details.
Via Decider.
Conservative pundits aren’t the only ones going after Pete Davidson for making fun of Republican candidate Dan Crenshaw’s war injury. On Monday, Davidson’s Saturday Night Live co-star Kenan Thompson visited Today, where he criticized Davidson for saying Crenshaw, a former Navy SEAL who lost his right eye in Afghanistan, looks like a “hitman in a porno movie.” Thompson told Today that Davidson’s joke “definitely missed the mark,” and he said that it’s easy to cross a line when you’re “fishing for jokes.”
When asked if Davidson “crossed a line,” Thompson admitted that “it definitely seems it.” Said Thompson, “My father’s a veteran, you know, Vietnam, and I personally would never go there, but it’s tough when you’re fishing for jokes. That’s how stand-ups feel — like, there’s no real filters out there in the world when they’re trying to go for a great joke, or whatever.” While Thompson said that comedians “try to respect that,” but sometimes, a joke goes too far. “At the same time, when you miss the mark, you’re offending people. So you have to be a little more aware,” he said.
Thompson was quick to say that Davidson “definitely missed the mark,” but he didn’t wholly attack his SNL co-star. According to Thompson, Davidson’s follow-up comment about Crenshaw — “I know he lost his eye in war, or whatever,” Davidson said on “Weekend Update” — may have been more about audience’s reception to the joke. “I think he was more so commenting on the fact that the joke maybe didn’t land as hard as he wanted it to, as opposed to being like, ‘I don’t care about veterans,'” he told Today.
Get the rest of the story at Decider.
Do you think Pete went too far with the joke? Let us know in the comments below.