SNL's Pete Davidson Apologies For Cruel, Awful Joke With Target's Cooperation

Congressman-elect Dan Crenshaw, left, accepts an apology from
Pete Davidson,  who made an inappropriate joke about Crenshaw's
war injury. The apology on SNL last Saturday is one road map
to counter President Trump's negativity and divisiveness. 

More than a week ago, comedian Pete Davidson on "Saturday Night Live" told a really stupid, bad cruel joke.

It was just before the midterm elections, and Davidson was riffing out jokes about several Republican political candidates when he got to Dan Crenshaw, who was running for Congress from a Texas district.

SNL showed a photo of Crenshaw, a former military guy who wears an eye patch because of a war injury and said. "You may be surprised to hear he's a congressional candidate for Texas and not a hit man in a porno movie."

I, along with many, many other people thought that went too far. Joking about Crenshaw's political positions is totally fair game. This was just cruel and unnecessary.

The bad joke caused a bit of a firestorm. On November 6, just three days after the SNL "joke" Crenshaw won the election and is now a Congressman-elect.

This whole incident could have been another salvo in the political hate wars that seem to be gripping all of us in the USA.

But then, as you might have seen or read on the news, SNL invited Crenshaw onto the show the following week - last Saturday. Yes, this was PR, to atone for such a bad, unfunny joke. But it was the best way possible to fix this mess. The video is at the bottom of this post.

Davidson, in his pink hoodie and bleached white hair, apologized in the "Weekend Update" segment.

He said: "In what must be a huge shock for people who know me, I made a poor choice last week. "I made a joke about Lt. Com. Dan Crenshaw on behalf of myself and the show. 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. 

"If any good came of this, maybe it was for one day, the left and the right finally came to agree on something: That I'm a dick."

With that, Crenshaw appeared on the set and said, "Ya think?" and then sat down next to Davidson.

Then there were some more jokes, including Crenshaw having his cell phone go off, with the ring tone being an Ariana Grande song. Grande and Davidson had been engaged, but the whole thing was called off.  "Do you know her?" Crenshaw asked "innocently."

Zing!

The nice thing about this is it turned into a good moment of unity in a time when we're tearing each other apart.

Crenshaw said: "I want us to get away from this culture where we demand an apology every time someone misspeaks."

Crenshaw went on: "There's a lot of lessons to learn here. Not just that the left and right can still are on some things. But also, this: Americans can forgive one another."

The congressman-elect then went on - this was Veteran's Day weekend - to remind people of the sacrifices of our veterans. He also went out of his way to honor the people "we lost on 9/11, heroes like Pete's father.

Davidson's dad was a firefighter who lost his life in the 9/11 terrorist attack.

This whole thing was great because, as an opinion piece on CNN noted, "rather than trying to one up each other or score political points with their respective audiences, they made a sincere attempt to connect in a respectful and playful manner."

I have to say, our divisiveness is to a great extent Donald Trump's fault. Whenever things go badly for him - and he's such a fuck up that that happens frequently - he starts blaming groups and people, designating enemies and making up conspiracy theories out of nothing, just to cause hate.

Who knows which side will win? Will it be the hate and blame and lies from Trump and his minions and his ardent supporters? Or will we once again learn to deal with our differences.

There are other glimmers of hope. There was an extremely close race for U.S. Senate in Arizona. Republican Martha McSally seemed to be ahead at first, but as ballots continued to be counted, Democrat Kyrsten Sinema got ahead as more votes were counted.

Trump and his GOP minions started claiming fraud and crime in the vote counting, just to undermine faith in the electoral process and try to advance the Republican, no matter what.

But when it became clear that Sinema squeaked out a victor, McSally gave an incredibly gracious concession message, with the help of her goofy dog.

Sure, McSally didn't want to look like a jerk, so that if she runs for office again, people won't bring that up. But the concession was sincere, and far different from Trump's continued attempts to yell about voter fraud against Republicans with absolutely no evidence to back him up.

Trump continues as of today to spout off about fictional voter fraud. Yes, all election officials need to be monitored so that there's no funny business. Yes, voter fraud, though very rare, needs to be squelched.

But more important is our faith in elections, our faith in each other. We're going to have to deal with Donald Trump for the forseeable future. But Davidson, Crenshaw and McSally do give us a model on how to deal with Trump's dark, anti-democratic, ignorant mentality.

Here's the Davidson/Crenshaw video. Between the jokes, it's actually a little inspiring:

Zendaya/Rancic: TV Host Demonstrates How To Make A Proper Apology. Others Could Learn...

A Fashion Police host apologized
to Zendaya for an offensive comment about
her dreadlock hair style at the Oscars.  

Very often, celebrities, politicians, public figures and other people in the news say something stupid, and the Internet and media pile on.

The well-worn trajectory has the people who make the dumb comments digging in, then apologizing.

But you can tell the apologies from most of these people are done just for PR, and the wording of these mea culpas betray a total lack of sincerity.

"I'm sorry if I offend so and so....."

No, you DID offend them. Even if you didn't mean to offend them, you did.

So, it was refreshing to hear the way Fashion Police co-host Giuliana Rancic apologized for making a racist-sounding remark about the actress Zendaya's hair.

First let's get to the offending comment from Rancic. She said about Zendaya's hair style at the Oscars, which was a nice dreadlock do:  "I feel that it smells of patchouli oil, or weed. Yeah, maybe weed."

Fashion Police, is of course, famous for its snarky comments on the way celebrities appear in public, especially their style, or lack thereof (depending upon your opinion.)

Though Fashion Police is a frivolous show and what's said there is certainly not important, Rancic's remarks, pardon the pun, reeked of possible racism.

Zendaya responded to the insult with maturity and class, but also with needed outspokenness:

"To say that an 18 year old young woman with locs must smell of patchouli oil or "weed" is not only a large stereotype but outrageously offensive....... There is already harsh criticism of African American hair in society without the help of ignorant people who chose to judge others based on the curl of their hair. 

My wearing my hair in locs on an Oscar red carpet was to showcase them in a positive light, to remind people of color that our hair is good enough. To me, locs are a symbol of strength and beauty, almost like a lion's mane."

Fashion Police co-host Kelly Osbourne was offended enough by Rancic's comments that she threatened to leave the show.

Clearly, Rancic had to apologize. So she did. Thankfully, she got it right.

In her on air apology, Rancic began:

"I'd really like to address something that is weighing very heavy on my hears. I want to apologize for a comment I made on last night's Fashion Police about Zendaya's hair. Now, as you know, Fashion Police is a show that pokes fun at celebrities in good spirit, but I do understand that something I said last night did cross a line.

I just want everyone to know I didn't intend to hurt anybody. But I've learned it is not my intent that matters; it's the result. And the result is that people are offended, including Zendaya, and that's not OK."

Lets stop here and analyze the statement for a moment. I'm so glad Rancic didn't say, "I'm sorry if I offended anyone. She knows she offended people, so she says straight up that she did, even if that wasn't her intent. Rancic says she crossed a line, and she used the word "learn" to make clear that she had to educate herself on what she did wrong.

Rancic goes on:

"Therefore, I want to say to Zendaya and to anyone else out there that I have hurt that I am so, so, sincerely sorry. This really has been a learning experience for me. I've learned a lot today, and this incident has taught me to be a lot more aware of cliches and stereotypes...how much damage they can do, and that I am responsible, as we all are, to not perpetuate them further. Thank you for listening."

Again, Rancic gets it right. She doesn't say "if I hurt anybody." She acknowledges that she did hurt people, no ifs ands or buts. Again, she talks about how she learned from this, and more importantly what she's learned from this, so she won't do it again.   She also urges others to not make the same mistake she did. Kind of paying it forward.

For the record, Zandaya said she accepts Rancic's apology. And Osbourne said she's glad Rancic apologized and that Zandaya accepted it. Crisis averted.

In the grand scheme of things, a host of a celebrity show saying something rude and crass about another celebrity isn't going to make the world come crashing down.

But more powerful people, the ones with enough mojo to make the world come crashing down, should learn from Rancic.

Rancic might be a star on a celebrity fashion show, but people who should know better, who at least arguably are in positions more powerful than the people on The Fashion Police.

To cite just one example, it makes me think of Rudy Guiliani and his ridiculous "Obama doesn't love America" comment.

Giuliani just couldn't admit he said something over the top. That it was wrong and insulting. It's perfectly legitimate to criticize the president and his decisions, but how does the wild accusation that Obama doesn't "Love America" help.

Instead of at least saying he expressed himself wrong, he did some verbal somersaults, saying he didn't intent to question President Obama's motives or "the content of his heart."

But Rudy, Rudy, Rudy. You didn't acknowledge that you overstepped.

Oh well, he's kind of irrelevant anyway. We can be thankful Rudy isn't a host on Fashion Police.

For the record, here's a video of Rancic's on-air apology:

Vermont Man Sets Fire To Car; Later Realizes It's The Wrong Car

I often do weird crime updates from Florida, which seems to be the World Headquarter for people who do strange,  creative lawbreaking.

Vermont man torches car to get back at somebody
he disliked. But oops, wrong car.  

But where I live in Vermont, we try to contribute to this phenomenon, especially up in the remote Northeast Kingdom part of the state.

After all, this is the part of the state where, in 2012, a mentally ill man ran over and crushed eight police cruisers in a parking lot with a tractor he was driving. 

It's the part of Vermont where last year,  a reporter for a small town newspaper didn't have to go far to get a crime story. He just looked out the window and watched his car get stolen.

Today, we introduce you to Cory Carpenter, 33, of Newport, Vermont. According to the Newport Dispatch, he was caught Saturday night after setting a Dodge Neon ablaze in Newport.

Asked by the arresting officer why he did it, according to the Dispatch, Carpenter replied, "I did it to be an asshole."

Well, no argument there.

Apparently, he wanted to set fire to a car owned by somebody with whom he was having a disagreement. The destroyed car, however, belonged to somebody else, somebody Carpenter apparently had no beef with.

Police said while in custody, he penned this note to the person whose car he torched: "I apologize for setting fire to your car. Wasn't my intention. Peace be with you. Truly sorry, Cory L. Carpenter Jr."

Well, at least he's sorry. But he's still facing charges. Which goes to prove, revenge isn't necessarily sweet.

Tasteless, Tacky Tweeter Twit Apologies to Baltimore Ravens

Katie Moody, that woman I wrote about the other day who Tweeted an incredible tacky, hurtful message to Baltimore Ravens receiver Torrey Smith.has apologized.

According to the Baltimore Sun, Moody now "profoundly regrets" the Tweet that caused the uproar.

Katie Moody of Baltimore is very sorry she was
 a scumbag on Twitter Sunday.

Smith played in Sunday's game despite the fact his younger brother died in a motorcycle accident hours earlier. He dedicated his impressive performance in the game to his brother. The Ravens won the game against the New England Patriots.

Moody, a Patriots fan, was not happy. She Tweeted this charming comment: "Hey, Smith. How about you call your bro and tell him about your wi---ohhh, wait. @toosoon"

This, understandably did not go over well, and Moody endured a sh!tstorm of hate toward her. Understandably. People also called for her firing at her job at John Hopkins School of Medicine.

No word if that's going to happen.  In any event,  Moody is very regretful now. Not sure if it's because of the criticism, or she realized she was very, very wrong, or both. But for the record, her statement is this:

"I profoundly regret my thoughtless, tasteless, and completely inappropriate comment, and I deeply lament the pain that it has caused. I would like to apologize to Torrey Smith, his family, friends, and everyone who was distressed by what I said. I should have been offering sympathy and compassion for such a terrible and heart-breaking loss. I set high standards for myself as a person and as a fan, and I fell short of these standards. This was a horrible lapse in judgment that I will always regret. I am truly sorry."

That's a marked contrast to her initial reaction to the criticism in the hours after she Tweeted. She had said that everybody is doing it, so apparently it isn't a big deal. She has since had a change of heart, apparently.

Look, I have no idea of Moody is normally a scumbag or just had one scumbag moment in an otherwise life of decency. I don't know her. But I bet she's going to be incredibly careful on social media from now on.

No word yet, either on whether there's a public reaction from Smith. He doesn't owe us any reaction, of course. We just extend our condolences to Smith and his family.