The Diocese of Brooklyn is demanding a public apology from Saturday Night Live over a joke that compared the Catholic church’s sex abuse scandals to R. Kelly’s.
The joke in question came during SNL’s Weekend Update segment in which co-host Pete Davidson addressed the disgraced R&B star who is facing a number of counts of sexual abuse.
‘Before I continue, this guy is a monster and he should go to jail forever,’ Davidson said. ‘But if you support the Catholic church, isn’t that like the same thing as being an R. Kelly fan? I don’t really see the difference, except for one’s music is significantly better.’
‘Look, I’m not saying it’s an easy decision,’ Davidson went on, ‘I’m just saying, you don’t know how good someone’s music is until you find out they’re a pedophile.’
Despite generating laughs and boos from the gathered audience, the Diocese of Brooklyn took umbrage declaring the subject to be no laughing matter, blasting the humor as ‘disgraceful and offensive.’
‘Apparently, the only acceptable bias these days is against the Catholic Church,’ the diocese said in a lengthy statement. ‘The faithful of our Church are disgusted by the harassment by those in news and entertainment, and this sketch offends millions. The mockery of this difficult time in the Church’s history serves no purpose.’
‘The clergy sex abuse crisis is shameful, and no one should ever get a laugh at the expense of the victims who have suffered irreparably. The Diocese of Brooklyn strives every day to ensure that sexual abuse by clergy never happens again,’ the statement continued.