Comedians are always looking for a big joke, but "Saturday Night Live" star Pete Davidson recognized that he went too far after he mocked the appearance of Representative-elect Dan Crenshaw, a former Navy SEAL, on last week's episode.
Now, the comedian is apologizing.
On last night's episode, Davidson said: "In what I'm sure was a huge shock to people who know me, I made a poor choice last week. No I did," he said after laughs. "On behalf of the show and myself, I apologize."
"I mean this from the bottom of my heart," he added. "It was a poor choice of words. The man is a war hero and he deserves all the respect in the world."
The apology follows swift backlash from the joke, in which Davidson had said: “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.”
Crenshaw wears an eyepatch because of an injury after an IED explosion in Afghanistan.
Davidson's "SNL" castmate Kenan Thompson was asked about the joke on a segment of TODAY and agreed that the joke "definitely missed the mark," but added that Davidson is a "humble dude" with a "big heart."
Thompson said that he didn't think Davidson was purposely trying to offend people.
During the apology, Davidson got a taste of his own medicine.
Crenshaw appeared on the segment and sitting next to Davidson, took a turn mocking his appearance, joking that he looked "like if the meth from 'Breaking Bad' was a person."
He then received a cell phone call and his ringtone played "Breathin'" by Ariana Grande. Davidson has been in the spotlight since his very public breakup with the pop singer, who he was briefly engaged to.
Davidson laughed at Crenshaw's jabs and then the two reminded the audience that if anything, this incident has shown that people from both sides of the aisle can come together, and that it's possible to accept an apology.
At the end of the segment Davidson and Crenshaw shook hands and reminded viewers to "Never forget" during this Veteran's Day weekend. Now that's a sentiment we can all agree on!