When a conservative outlet or personality says something offensive, the media will rush to report the incident (often divorced from context or slyly edited.) Another conservative outrage against decency. When a liberal does it, you don’t often hear about the episode until there’s a “conservative backlash” to report.
Consider Pete Davidson mocking the war wounds of a decorated Navy SEAL on the Nov. 3 Saturday Night Live. Dan Crenshaw served numerous combat tours before losing an eye in Afghanistan, requiring him to wear an eye patch. Now he’s running for the House of Representatives from Texas. Davidson showed a photo of Crenshaw in the “Weekend Update” segment, saying, “You may be surprised to hear he’s a congressional candidate from Texas and not a hitman in a porno movie. I’m sorry, I know he lost his eye in war, or whatever.”
Numerous media outlets didn’t even cover the event itself and instead resorted to - you guessed it - conveying the ‘conservative backlash’ to Davidson’s jeering.
The AP emphasized Crenshaw’s “chiding” of Davidson:
Texas Republican congressional candidate chides 'Saturday Night Live' comic Pete Davidson for poking fun of the eyepatch he wears because he was badly wounded serving in Afghanistan as a Navy SEAL. https://t.co/l2X1BN2Wcn (corrects link)
— The Associated Press (@AP) November 5, 2018
NBC's Today tweeted that Davidson “faces backlash over a joke”:
SNL's Pete Davidson faces backlash over a joke about a veteran congressional candidate who lost an eye serving in Afghanistan. pic.twitter.com/zGJBxTsCZ6
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) November 5, 2018
CBS News relayed that Davidson was “criticized for mocking candidate”:
"I'm sorry. I know he lost his eye in war or whatever...": Pete Davidson criticized for mocking candidate who lost eye in Afghanistan https://t.co/Uy55dbTxCy pic.twitter.com/Loui1cwxH5
— CBS News (@CBSNews) November 4, 2018
The Hill told that Davidson’s jab “spark[ed] conservative backlash”:
SNL's Pete Davidson sparks conservative backlash for mocking GOP candidate who lost eye in combat https://t.co/9eO0v85Wmg pic.twitter.com/QajT959n2H
— The Hill (@thehill) November 5, 2018
In all of these cases, there was no prior tweet produced by any of these sources on the comedian’s original words, separated from conservative rebuttals. Now, compare that to the reports that actor Jon Voight “cried” over Trump (he didn’t actually cry) or any time Kanye West dared to say anything positive about the President -- incendiary takes on the celebrities’ words themselves just so happened to double as “objective reporting” in all those cases.
