Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer called for the firing of Saturday Night Live creator and executive producer Lorne Michaels on Monday after a segment aired with cast member Pete Davidson mocking a Navy SEAL who lost his left eye while serving in combat.
Spicer is among a growing number slamming “SNL” and Davidson for the mockery of GOP congressional candidate Dan Crenshaw. Critics include Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Illinois), who is also a war veteran.
“These people mocked a combat veteran, and this is what they think is funny these days?” Spicer told Fox News on Monday. “Lorne Michaels should be fired.”
Spicer, who served as a Navy reservist before jumping into the political arena, also took to Twitter to continue to hammer Michaels.
“This was not funny in any way,” he wrote after echoing his sentiment from television earlier. “They scripted it, rehearsed it, laughed at it, aired it and promoted it. VSOs [Voluntary Service Officers] should demand @nbcsnl head Lorne Michaels he fired.”
{mosads}Saturday night, on the show’s mock newscast “Weekend Update,” Davidson was brought on to talk about the 2018 midterms. His mock segment included Crenshaw, who is running as a Republican in Texas’s 2nd Congressional District.
“You may be surprised to hear he’s a congressional candidate for Texas and not a hit-man in a porno movie,” Davidson said, describing a photo of Crenshaw, who wears 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.
The video of the skit is still live on the show’s official YouTube page and has been viewed nearly two million times as of Monday afternoon.
Crenshaw served as a Navy SEAL and lieutenant commander. He lost his right eye in an improvised explosive device blast in 2012 in Afghanistan’s Helmand province. He went on to deploy twice more in the Middle East and South Korea before retiring in 2016 and announcing his intention to run for Congress the following year.
Crenshaw responded to the controversy on Twitter by saying that he tries hard “not to be offended” while stating “vets don’t deserve to see their wounds used as punchlines for bad jokes.”
“Good rule in life: I try hard not to offend; I try harder not to be offended,” Crenshaw wrote in a Sunday Tweet that has been retweeted more than 50,000 times as of Monday afternoon. “That being said, I hope @nbcsnl recognizes that vets don’t deserve to see their wounds used as punchlines for bad jokes.”
Duckworth, who served in the second Iraq War and lost both her legs in 2004 after her Black Hawk helicopter was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, called Davidson’s joke “absolutely appalling” and called on Davidson to apologize.
“This is absolutely appalling. No one should ever mock a Veteran for the wounds they received while defending our great nation, regardless of political party or what you think of their politics,” the Purple Heart recipient wrote in a tweet to her more than 500,000 followers. “Pete Davidson owes Dan Crenshaw an apology.”