TEXAS Senator Ted Cruz has been roasted on SNL for abandoning his state during a deadly winter storm for a family vacation in Cancun.
In a skit on "Saturday Night Live", Cruz, played by Aidy Bryant, was introduced on the iconic show so he could apologize for jetting out of Texas as millions tried to survive without heat, power and water.
"Hola, everyone," Cruz said with luggage and a cocktail in tow.
"I’m not tan, I just cried myself red over my fellow Texans. And that’s why I drink in their honor."
The senator said he was "in a little bit of hot water — which I'm told no one in Texas has."
"I deeply regret my actions over the last couple days," Cruz said, "mostly flying United."
He concluded with an apology: "I’m sorry. I’m really bad at human stuff."
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo – played by Pete Davidson – under investigation for allegedly undercounting Covid-19 nursing home deaths, also appeared so he could apologize.
"Some of the people who died in the nursing homes were not counted as nursing home deaths," he said, "they were counted as hospital deaths."
"I said I was sorry," Cuomo said, unconvincingly.
Satirical news segment "Weekend Update" also mocked Cruz for his trip to Mexico.
"If you hate Ted Cruz, this was a pretty fun week," co-host Colin Jost said.
"If you like Ted Cruz, then you are Ted Cruz."
Jost noted that the Republican senator initially said he went to Cancún because his daughters asked for the trip.
"If you think it’s bad to throw his daughters under the bus, Cruz would like you to know that that statement was his wife’s idea," Jost said.
Col-host Michael Che said, "Cruz would have returned from Mexico even sooner but it took him like 40 mins to get out of a hammock."
He noted that millions of Texans suffered from lack of water because pipes froze during the historic cold snap.
"'Boy, this kind of thing would never happen in New York,' said people who’ve never lived in the projects," Che said.
Jost criticized President Joe Biden's proposal to create a pathway to citizenship for 11 million people living in the US without sufficient documentation.
With an image of Cruz returning to Texas as a backdrop, Jost said, "I don’t know if that’s such a great idea. I mean, have you seen the people coming in from Mexico these days?"
Americans from across the political aisle equally voiced their outrage over Cruz, a senator for Texas, leaving the state as roughly 70 people died from hypothermia and other things for Mexico's sunshine.
Cruz and his family – including wife Heidi, 48, and their daughters, Catherine, 12, and Caroline, 10, – have returned to Texas after their controversial stay at the $300-a-night Ritz Carlton resort.
After dashing to the luxury resort, Cruz landed back in Texas on Thursday and had a police escort at the airport, where protesters held signs stating "24 dead" from the winter storm – a number that has since risen significantly.
Speaking to reporters outside his house, Cruz admitted he made a mistake and insisted he was "just trying to be a dad."
"It was obviously a mistake and in hindsight I wouldn't have done it," Cruz said.
"I was trying to be a dad and all of us have made decisions – when you've got two girls who have been cold for two days, and haven't had heat or power, and they are saying: 'Look, we don't have school, why don't we go, let's get out of here," he said.
Asked directly what he was thinking, Cruz replied: "You question what I was thinking, and… I was trying to take care of my family.
"I was trying to take care of my kids. It's unfortunate, the firestorm that came from it.
"It was not my intention – in saying 'yes' to my daughters to somehow diminish all the Texans that were going through real hardship."
The senator later expressed his regret as text messages obtained by The Sun emerged showing his wife Heidi planning the Cancun trip to escape the bitterly cold weather in Texas.
Just weeks before Cruz embarked on his trip, the elite private school his daughters attend emailed parents about international travel.
The notice warned that St John’s School students who travel internationally must quarantine for seven to 10 days upon their return, as per CDC guidelines.
The email, sent on January 30, also advised that online learning would not be available to students in quarantine, Politico reports.
It came after two classes at the school were forced to promptly quarantine because students attended holiday parties that led to multiple Covid-positive infections.
The incident created a divide between the parents and students who followed the safety guidelines and those who flouted them – a microcosm of the broader societal conflict that plays out daily across the nation.
A Cruz spokesman said the senator’s “daughters plan to follow the St. John’s policy.”
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