Clip of Skelos played for laughs on ‘The Daily Show’

Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos’s guest appearance on the June 7 episode of “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” was a surprise even to himself.

The show ran a skit questioning the purpose of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s recent campaign to outlaw large sugary drinks and connecting it to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s call to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana. During the skit, a clip of Skelos criticizing the governor was used, prompting Stewart to refer to the senator as “Fran Narkington.”

Skelos released a statement Friday in response to the satire.

“I had the opportunity to watch the Daily Show skit and like others found it to be extremely entertaining and funny. At the same time, this is a serious issue. I do not believe that allowing individuals to display large amounts of marijuana in public view sends the right message to our children. A recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey shows that 23 percent of high school students say they recently smoked marijuana, only 18 percent say they had smoked cigarettes. While some teens may view marijuana as less dangerous than cigarettes, marijuana can be a gateway drug that leads to the use of other, more dangerous and life-altering drugs."