Former Navy SEAL slams Pete Davidson for ‘SNL’ eyepatch joke

HOUSTON — A Texas Republican congressional candidate has chided “Saturday Night Live” comic Pete Davidson for poking fun of the eyepatch he wears because he was badly wounded during his third tour in Afghanistan as a Navy SEAL.

During a Weekend Update segment about midterm election candidates he considers “gross,” Davidson said Dan Crenshaw, whose photo was displayed, was “kinda cool” but that viewers might be “surprised he’s a congressional candidate from Texas and not a hit man in a porno movie.” He added, “I’m sorry, I know he lost his eye in war or whatever.”

Crenshaw, who is running against Democrat Todd Litton for an open suburban Houston district seat, replied in a tweet on Sunday, saying: “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.”

Davidson, a no-holds-barred type who also has joked about his firefighter father’s death in the 9/11 Twin Towers collapse, also used the segment to mock the appearances of Rick Scott, Peter King, Andrew Cuomo, Greg Pence — and himself.

The segment took an abrupt turn at the end when Davidson got serious about his recent breakup with pop singer Ariana Grande, saying it’s “nobody’s business” and wishing Grande well.