NBC was tight-lipped Monday about the growing uproar over a Saturday Night Live sketch mocking the appearance of Republican House candidate Dan Crenshaw, a retired Navy SEAL who lost his right eye in Afghanistan.
“We are not commenting. Thank you,” said Lauren Roseman, NBCUniversal senior vice president for entertainment publicity, in an email to the Washington Times
.The network has come under pressure to apologize for a “Weekend Update” segment in which cast member Pete Davidson ridiculed the looks of several candidates, including Mr. Crenshaw, a Republican House candidate seeking a Houston-based seat.
“Dan Crenshaw. You may be surprised to hear he’s a congressional candidate from Texas and not a hitman in a porno movie,” said Mr. Davidson.
As the audience laughed, Mr. Davidson joked, “I’m sorry, I know he lost his eye in war or whatever.”
Republicans, as well as Democrats, have condemned the segment as tasteless and insensitive, with Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel and others calling for the network to apologize to Mr. Crenshaw.
Meanwhile, the conservative Media Research Center said Monday it would contact the show’s advertisers.
“We are contacting every one of SNL’s advertisers to see if they support this attack,” said MRC president Brent Bozell. “We will ask them if they plan to continue advertising on SNL, and we will share the results tomorrow. What a sad and unfortunate message NBC is sending to veterans across the country just a week before Veterans Day.”
Mr. Crenshaw said Monday that he isn’t interested in an apology from NBC but would like to see Mr. Davidson and SNL producers donate to veterans’ organizations.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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