“Saturday Night Live’s” Pete Davidson did not appear on this week’s episode, including in pre-taped sketches, raising speculation that he is permanently leaving the show after complaining in a recent interview that he is portrayed as “this big dumb idiot.”
Davidson joined the show in 2014 and has emerged as one of its most popular cast members. But the 26-year-old has also been at the center of controversy of late, including his mocking of Rep. Dan Crenshaw’s (R-Texas) eye patch, which the Afghan War veteran wears after having lost an eye due to an IED explosion.
“I personally think I should be done with that show because they make fun of me on it,” Davidson said in a sit-down with radio host Charlamagne tha God on Feb. 24. “I don’t know whose team they’re playing for, really … if I’m the joke or I’m in on the joke.
“They think I’m f—ing dumb. I’m literally painted out to be this big dumb idiot,” he later added.
Davidson raised eyebrows last month when he said he “kind of got forced to apologize” to Crenshaw in 2018 for mocking his eye patch after the two appeared to mend the controversy in a skit that went viral on “SNL” in November 2018.
“I got in trouble last year, because I was making some jokes,” Davidson says on his Netflix special, “Alive from New York.”
“I didn’t think I did anything wrong,” he continued. “It was like words that were twisted so that a guy could be famous. So, I made fun of this guy with an eye patch and then, like, I kind of got forced to apologize.
“My roommate thought I should apologize so that I didn’t get shot in the face,” Davidson says, referring to his mother. “People were like, ‘You hate America!’ And I’m like, ‘No, I just didn’t want to be incorrect about how he lost his f—ing eye. Is that a crime?’”
Davidson drew heavy criticism for joking about Crenshaw’s injury during a Nov. 4, 2018, episode of “Weekend Update.”
“This guy is kind of cool, Dan Crenshaw,” Davidson said while showing a photo of Crenshaw wearing an eye patch.
“I’m sorry. I know he lost his eye in war or whatever,” he added, to laughter from the live studio audience.
“Whatever,” Davidson chuckled after laughter from the audience leveled off.
In “Alive from New York,” Davidson now says he regrets making Crenshaw “a household name.”
“I did make that guy famous and a household name for no reason, right?” he said.
“And never forget those we lost on 9/11, heroes like Pete’s father,” Crenshaw later added. “So I’ll just say, Pete, never forget.”
“Never forget,” Davidson agreed as the two shook hands before exclaiming to the audience, “And that is from both of us!”