Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw, now famously the brunt of an SNL sketch that mocked his eye patch last year, debuted a new eye patch at the State of the Union Address on Tuesday night.
Crenshaw, a former Navy SEAL, posted a photo to Twitter of himself with the new patch, which features the Navy SEAL Trident.
Here is the photo:
— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) February 6, 2019
Crenshaw was injured and blinded in an IED explosion in Afghanistan in 2012.
As a newly elected Congressman this past year, he entered the media spotlight after being mocked by an SNL comedian for his eye patch, which went viral.
Crenshaw later appeared on the show at the invitation of SNL; he was able to poke some fun back while also sending a powerful message to the public about veterans and forgiveness. That clip posted to YouTube has more than 8.4 million views.
Comedian Pete Davidson had mocked Crenshaw’s eye patch in a skit the week prior.
“I made a poor choice last week,” Davidson said as he opened the sketch with Crenshaw. “I made a joke about Lt. Commander Dan Crenshaw, and on behalf of the show and myself, I apologize. I mean this from the bottom of my heart. It was a poor choice of words. The man is a war hero and he deserves all the respect in the world.”
SNL had showed a photo of Crenshaw wearing an eye patch during the show’s “Weekend Update” segment, and Davidson commented, “You may be surprised to hear he’s a Congressional candidate from Texas and not a hit man in a porno movie. […] I’m sorry, I know he lost his eye in war, or whatever. Whatever.”
In the skit with Crenshaw at his side, Davidson said, “I just wanted to say, the reason you’re wearing an eye patch is you lost your eye to an IED in Afghanistan during your third combat tour,” adding, “I’m sorry.”
Crenshaw and Davidson agreed that “we’re good,” just as Crenshaw’s cell phone started ringing with an Ariana Grande song – Grand is Davidson’s ex-fiancee.
Davidson also let Crenshaw make a few jokes about him in the style of the “First Impressions” sketch.
“This is Pete Davidson. He looks like if the meth from ‘Breaking Bad’ was a person,” Crenshaw said.
“One more,” he went on. “He looks like a troll doll with a tapeworm.”
Crenshaw cracked a few more jokes before ending the segment with a powerful message.
“But seriously, there’s a lot of lessons to learn here. … Americans can forgive one another. We can remember what brings us together as a country and still see the good in each other. This is Veterans Day weekend, which means that it’s a good time for every American to connect with a veteran,” he said.
“I would actually encourage you […] tell a veteran, ‘Never forget.’ When you say ‘never forget’ to a veteran, you are implying that as an American, you are in it with them. Not separated by some imaginary barrier between civilians and veterans, but connected together as grateful fellow Americans who will never for the sacrifices made by veterans past and present, and never forget those we lost on 9/11 – heroes like Pete’s father,” Crenshaw added.
Scott Davidson was a member of the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) who died in the terrorist attacks on 9/11; Pete Davidson was 7 years old at the time.
At the end of the skit, Crenshaw and Pete Davidson shook hands.
Crenshaw had tweeted after the initial skit, “Good rule in life: I try hard not to offend; I try harder not to be offended. That being said, I hope [SNL] recognizes that vets don’t deserve to see their wounds used as punchlines for bad jokes.”
Over the weekend, Crenshaw tweeted, “Thanks for having me [SNL]. What an experience! And what a way to highlight the importance of honoring our vets, especially this weekend.”
