Pete Davidson Addresses Israel and Gaza in ‘SNL’ Cold Open: ‘Sometimes Comedy is Really the Only Way Forward Through Tragedy’
15.10.2023 - 04:47
/ variety.com
Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large “Saturday Night Live” opened this week’s Season 49 premiere without a skit, but instead with host Pete Davidson discussing “the horrible images and stories from Israel and Gaza.” Said Davidson: “And I know what you’re thinking, Who better to comment on it than Pete Davidson? Well, in a lot of ways, I am a good person to talk about it because when I was seven years old, my dad was killed in a terrorist attack. So I know something about what that’s like. “I saw so many terrible pictures this week.
Children suffering, Israeli children and Palestinian children. And it took me back to a really horrible, horrible place. No one in this world deserves to suffer like that, especially not kids.
“After my dad died, my mom tried pretty much everything she can do to cheer me up. I remember one day when I was eight. She got me what she thought was a Disney movie.
But it was actually the Eddie Murphy stand up special ‘Delirious.’ And we played it in the car on the way home. And when she heard the things Eddie Murphy was saying, she tried to take it away. But then she noticed something.
For the first time in a long time, I was laughing again. I don’t understand that. I really don’t and I never will.
But sometimes comedy is really the only way forward through tragedy. “You know, my heart is with everyone whose lives have been destroyed this week. But tonight, I’m gonna do what I’ve always done in the face of tragedy, and that’s try to be funny.”pic.twitter.com/jAFbxAZFR0 After Davidson’s opening monologue, the first sketch of the night took on Taylor Swift/NFL mania, via a parody of Fox’s NFL Sunday team.