The weekend's Saturday Night Live episode was full of jokes aimed at R. Kelly, but Pete Davidson rubbed a few people the wrong way when he compared the Catholic Church to the R&B icon. Like the controversial singer, the religious organization has been the center of sexual abuse allegations for decades, including documents that reportedly suggest that the Church has known about accusations and rightly ignored them. During his monologue on the Weekend Update segment of the show, Davidson said, "But if you support the Catholic church, isn’t that the same thing as being an R. Kelly fan? I don’t really see the difference. Only one’s music is significantly better."
Davidson continued, "Look, I'm not saying it's an easy decision. I'm just saying, you don't know how good someone's music is until you find out they're a pedophile." In a press release, the Diocese of Brooklyn chastised the New York-based television series, demanding an "immediate apology" from both the show and the NBC network for their "disgraceful and offensive skit."
"Apparently, the only acceptable bias these days is against the Catholic Church," a press release states. "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."
