(This post may contain disputed claims. We make no assertions as to the validity of the information presented by our Opinion Columnist. We are an opinion blog, not a traditional news outlet, and this post should be treated as such. Enjoy.)Over the weekend, “Saturday Night Live” took aim at Dan Crenshaw, a former Navy SEAL who lost an eye in Afghanistan. During a CNN interview, Crenshaw said he didn’t want some “hollow apology,” but he offered what would amount to the perfect “solution” to rectify the situation.
Dan Crenshaw was on patrol in the Helmand province of Afghanistan in 2012 when an IED blast ripped through his body. Crenshaw, a Navy SEAL, was medically evacuated out of the area and put into a medically-induced coma. When he awoke, he was totally blind.
Doctors told Crenshaw he would never see again. And were it not for his decision to undergo risky, experimental treatment, he might not have. Ultimately, Crenshaw regained sight in one eye but lost the other. However, this major physical setback could not stop him. He redeployed.
When he finally returned home to Texas, Crenshaw married the woman of his dreams and enrolled at Harvard. Now, at the age of 34, he is running for Congress in Texas.
“One of our Afghan interpreters stepped on a pressure plate right in front of me. About 15 pounds of explosives dismembered him right in front of my face. It blinded me, shattered me, and knocked me over,” explained Crenshaw. “I woke up about five days later.”
“They took some time to stabilize me in Afghanistan and do the surgery to remove my right eye. I woke up without a right eye and blind in the left. They had little faith I would see again, but the fact they said there was a chance … I really believed I would see again,” he said.
The Taliban may have taken his eye, but the terrorists could not steal Dan Crenshaw’s incredible resolve.
While Crenshaw’s background ought to elicit only the deepest respect from the public, over the weekend, he was made the butt of an incendiary joke by “Saturday Night Live” cast member Pete Davidson:
“Saturday Night Live” cast member Pete Davidson mocked the appearance of Republican congressional candidate Dan Crenshaw, a former Navy SEAL who lost his eye in an IED blast in Afghanistan.
“This guy is kind of cool — Dan Crenshaw,” began Davidson during a “Weekend Update” segment.
A photo of Crenshaw, who wears an eyepatch, flashed on the screen, eliciting laughter from Davidson, his fellow cast members and the SNL audience.
“You may be surprised to hear he’s a congressional candidate for Texas and not a hit-man in a porno movie,” continued Davidson, who’s known for his recently failed relationship with pop star Ariana Grande. [Source: The Daily Caller]
Crenshaw responded to the SNL skit, tweeting “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.”
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.
— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) November 4, 2018
“I do not demand an apology,” Crenshaw told CNN on Monday. “He probably should apologize, but I don’t want some hollow apology. I think what him and maybe the producers at SNL should do is pool their money together — let’s throw a figure out there, a million dollars — and let’s donate that to a series of veteran’s nonprofits. There’s a lot of veterans that really need help, and frankly, this kind of thing is offensive to them. They feel laughed at.”
Crenshaw is expected to cruise to victory tomorrow in Texas’ midterm election. He has a 90 percent chance of defeating his Democratic challenger, Todd Litton. Please show him your support by sharing this post.
