On SNL this past Saturday night, Pete Davidson took it upon himself to share, as per usual, an insensitive and extremely controversial "joke": this time aimed at R. Kelly, and the Catholic church.
Davidson's words were as follows: "But if you support the Catholic Church, isn't that like the same thing as being an R. Kelly fan?"
Needless to say, the joke didn't go over very well... especially considering that this is a really important part of the year for Catholics, with Lent underway.
The very foundation of this joke is an absolutely disgusting thing, and certainly not something to be talked about in such a lighthearted and careless way. Sexual abuse in any situation is nothing to be taken lightly, and absolutely not something that should ever be joked about, but the fact that in this case, we are dealing with sexual abuse of children, makes this joke even more horrific.
There are several different things that need to be acknowledged here, but I'll start with the nature of the joke itself. For anyone who might somehow still be unaware, R. Kelly has been accused of ten counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse against four different victims, and three of these victims are minors. The accusations came after a nursing home worker stumbled upon an old box tape which included several labeled "R. Kelly" that show the abuse.
Regarding the Catholic church, there have been numerous allegations of sexual abuse against children involving Catholic priests. These allegations are currently under investigation, and over 200 members of the clergy are believed to have been credibly accused.
Both of these instances are absolutely horrific, and even thinking about making a joke about something so awful is sickening.
While the Catholic church allegations are widespread and numerous, though, it is so important to keep in mind that this does not define the church as a whole. Yes, there are clearly a number of people within the church who did something absolutely terrible, however, these people do not stand as representative of the church in its entirety. I do not believe by any means that this is something that should be disregarded in the slightest when considering the Catholic church, but I do believe that we should make an effort to keep a mental distinction between the church itself and all that it stands for and symbolizes, and these terrible people who just happened to be part of the church.
Supporting the Catholic church does not mean you are supporting these specific people within it who committed these heinous acts, and to even try to say the opposite is ignorant.
You cannot and should not equate the church, as an institution, with a sex abuser. These are not one and the same.
Hearing something of this nature come out of Pete Davidson's mouth really comes as no surprise. Davidson has been blasted in the past for making jokes about a variety of touchy subjects. Back in the Fall, he joked about his then-girlfriend Ariana Grande's birth control, laughing about the idea of switching the pills out for mints. A month later, Davidson compared politician Dan Crenshaw to "a hit man in a porno movie" on account of the eye patch Crenshaw wears.
The reasoning for this eye patch? Crenshaw is a former Navy SEAL and lost his eye while he was serving in Afghanistan. Really cultured, tasteful joke, Pete. Really.
Insensitive and ignorant humor has become something of a personality trait for Davidson, apparently. It's unfortunate that he resorts to such sickly humor in order to get his name back in the headlines.
Pete Davidson, sexual abuse is not funny. Neither is switching your girlfriend's birth control, and neither is a lost eye.
I almost said try again, but actually please don't.