Pete Davidson

Peter Michael Davidson (born November 16, 1993) is an American comedian, actor, and writer. Davidson was a cast member on the NBC late-night sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live for eight seasons, joining the show for its 40th season, back in 2014, promoted to repertory player for its 42nd season in 2016, and left at the end of its 47th season in 2022.

Davidson's father, Scott Matthew Davidson, was a New York firefighter who died in 2001 at the World Trade Center during the September 11 attacks. Davidson began his career in the early 2010s with minor guest roles on Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Friends of the People. Before SNL, Davidson was a cast member of MTV shows such as Wild 'N Out, Guy Code, and Failosophy. Davidson also had a minor role in the comedy film School Dance, directed by Nick Cannon.

He has performed stand-up comedy on Adam DeVine's House Party, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and Comedy Underground with Dave Attell. In 2020, he co-wrote and starred in the semi-autobiographical comedy-drama film The King of Staten Island.

He released his comedy specials Pete Davidson: SMD (2016), Pete Davidson: Alive from New York (2020) and Pete Davidson Presents: The Best Friends (2022).

Davidson starred and executive produced the comedy film Big Time Adolescence (2019) and co-wrote and starred in the semi-autobiographical comedy-drama film The King of Staten Island (2020). Davidson continued acting in films such as The Suicide Squad (2021), Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022), Meet Cute (2022), and Marmaduke (2022).

He was impersonated by actor Rami Malek (they impersonated each other) on the October 16, 2021 episode, during the "Celeb School Game Show" sketch.

Davidson had a previously highly publicized relationship with reality star Kim Kardashian, who was previously married to musician Kanye West. Davidson had previously been engaged to singer and actress Ariana Grande.

He has skipped the first three episodes of Season 45 to film his scenes for "The Suicide Squad". Davidson was absent starting with the thirteenth episode until the twentieth episode of the show's 47th season, due to filming the movie The Home, as well as the controversy surrounding his relationship with Kardashian. Davidson left the show following the season 47 finale.

He next starred in the Peacock original series Bupkis, which premiered on May 4, 2023. To promote the project, he was supposed host the show on May 6, 2023, two days after the show's premiere with musical guest Lil Uzi Vert. However, due to the 2023 Writers Guild of America Strike happening that week. He instead hosted the show's 49th season premiere on October 14, 2023, with musical guest Ice Spice.

Early Life[]

Davidson was born in Staten Island; he is the son of Amy (Waters) and Scott Davidson. His father was a firefighter who died in the September 11th attacks. Davidson majored in comedy at the age of 16, when he and his friends were in a Staten Island bowling alley. Following high school, he attended St. Francis College in Brooklyn, New York.

Career[]

Davidson has been praised for basing his comedy on his own life and employing aspects of his life that have been likened to "a series of brutal truths and vulgar confessions," which make him relatable to audiences. He touches upon topics such as marijuana, sex, and relationships. He talks about incidents from his awkward high school experiences to living in a dormitory during his brief stint at St. Francis College. Davidson jokes about highly sensitive subjects, including the loss of his father during the September 11 attacks. He says he finds that it empowers him to address the feeling of powerlessness that experiencing such tragedy at a young age inflicted upon him. He is a fan of the Harry Potter franchise and has incorporated that material into his comedy work as well. He is also notable for his SNL character Chad.

Davidson collaborated with Machine Gun Kelly to write the sketch "A Message from the Count" for Kelly's album Hotel Diablo. In 2019 he starred in Jason Orley's Big Time Adolescence, and had supporting roles in Adam Shankman's What Men Want, Jeff Tremaine's The Dirt, Thurop Van Orman's The Angry Birds Movie 2, and John Turturro's The Big Lebowski spin-off The Jesus Rolls. In February 2020, Davidson released his stand up special Alive from New York on Netflix. In May 2020, The King of Staten Island was released, which Davidson both starred in and co-wrote with Judd Apatow, who also directed. Davidson was nominated for The Comedy Movie Star of 2020 for his work in The King of Staten Island and The Comedy Act of 2020 Pete Davidson: Alive from New York at the 46th People's Choice Awards. In April 2021, Davidson was cast as Joey Ramone in a Netflix biopic I Slept With Joey Ramone, based on the late singer's brother's memoir of the same name. Davidson will also serve as co-writer and executive producer. In August 2021, he appeared as Blackguard in The Suicide Squad directed by James Gunn. He voiced Marmaduke in an animated film released on Netflix on May 6, 2022. Following lengthy absences in season 47, it was announced shortly before its finale that it would be Davidson's last on Saturday Night Live.

He will next star in the Peacock original comedy series Bupkis, which will premiere on May 4, 2023.

Controversial comments[]

Catholic Church comments[]

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn demanded an apology from Davidson in March 2019, after an SNL sketch where he compared the Catholic Church to R. Kelly, an entertainer who had been accused of pedophilia. In the sketch that aired on March 9, 2019, Davidson said "(Kelly) is a monster and he should go to jail forever. 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." In a statement posted on its website, the diocese criticized the "disgraceful and offensive skit", further adding, "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." Davidson's comments came after the Diocese of Brooklyn and Queens agreed to a record $27.5 million settlement for sex abuse allegations in September 2018.

Dan Crenshaw comments[]

Davidson was heavily criticized for mocking Republican congressional candidate Dan Crenshaw, who wears an eyepatch as a result of a wound incurred while serving as a U.S. Navy SEAL in Afghanistan. On the November 3, 2018 episode, Davidson compared Crenshaw to "a hitman in a porno movie", and added, "I'm sorry; I know he lost his eye in war, or whatever."

In response to public outrage over the comments, Crenshaw appeared beside Davidson the following Saturday on an SNL 'Weekend Update' segment. Davidson apologized to Crenshaw, stating, "I mean this from the bottom of my heart: it was a poor choice of words ... the man is a war hero, and he deserves all the respect in the world." Crenshaw accepted Davidson's apology and called on Americans to "never forget" the service and sacrifices of veterans. Crenshaw also paid tribute to Davidson's father, a firefighter who had been killed during the September 11 attacks. Crenshaw and others have speculated that the joke and the subsequent attention may have helped him win Texas's 2nd congressional district in the 2018 midterm election.

In his 2020 Netflix special Alive from New York, Davidson rescinded the apology previously issued to Crenshaw, implying that it had been issued only because he had been compelled to give it. In the performance, Davidson tells the audience, "I didn't think I did anything wrong. It was like words that were twisted so that a guy could be famous ... So I made fun of this guy with an eye patch, and then, like, I kind of got forced to apologize." Crenshaw responded by stating that, although he had initially hoped that Davidson's apology had been sincere, "you can never tell with comedians." Crenshaw added, "To be fair, if we took everything that comedians said on a Netflix special seriously, man, our country would be in a world of hurt. I would like to remember the guy that I saw in person and hung out with that night (on SNL)."

Personal life[]

In October 2015, Davidson lived in Brooklyn Heights, New York. In 2019, he lived in Staten Island, New York, with his mother in a home they purchased together. In April 2021, he moved into his own residence in Staten Island. His father, Scott Matthew Davidson, was a firefighter and first responder who died as a result of the September 11 attacks. Davidson has his father's badge number, 8418, tattooed on his left arm. Davidson is godfather of Leo, the son of fellow comedian and friend, Ricky Velez.

Davidson supported Hillary Clinton in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, and on December 5, 2017, he stated on his Instagram account that he got a tattoo on his leg of Clinton, whom he called his "hero", a "badass", and "one of the strongest people in the universe." Clinton herself thanked Davidson for the compliment, joking, "This makes it significantly less awkward that I've had a Pete Davidson tattoo for years." He supported Joe Biden in the 2020 U.S. presidential election.

By August 2018, Davidson had over 40 tattoos on his arms, legs, chest, hands, and neck but during a May 2021 interview, he indicated that he was having some of them removed.

In January 2022, Davidson and fellow SNL colleague Colin Jost bought a decommissioned Staten Island ferry with plans to convert it into a comedy club.

In February 2022, he announced plans to move from Staten Island to Brooklyn.

Health[]

Davidson was diagnosed with Crohn's disease at age 17 or 18, for which he receives intravenous treatment, and uses medical marijuana for pain management and recreationally. On March 6, 2017, Davidson announced on his Instagram account that he had quit drugs and was sober for the first time in eight years. During an interview on comedian Marc Maron's podcast, Davidson clarified that the only drug he used was marijuana and, while he has since cut back on its use considerably, the personal and emotional problems he initially assumed where the result of his daily marijuana use were actually caused by his newly diagnosed borderline personality disorder, for which he has since been undergoing treatment.

On Saturday, December 15, 2018, Davidson shared a candid Instagram post in which he expressed thoughts of suicide, before deleting his account on the social media platform entirely. The New York Police Department conducted a wellness check on Davidson in response to social media posts from followers and former fiancée Ariana Grande. Davidson had been at the Saturday Night Live studio at the time preparing for the last episode before the show's annual hiatus airing later that night. Davidson and John Mulaney, comedian and former SNL writer, made humorous references to the Instagram post during the Weekend Update segment of the first episode following the holiday hiatus on January 19, 2019.

Relationships[]

Davidson dated comedian Carly Aquilino from 2014 until 2015, and dated Cazzie David, daughter of comedian Larry David, from 2016 to 2018.

In May 2018, he started dating popstar Ariana Grande. In June 2018, Davidson confirmed he was engaged to Grande, but the engagement was called off in October 2018. Grande's song about Davidson, titled "Pete Davidson", appears on her 2018 album Sweetener. She also referenced him in her song, "Thank U, Next", with the lyric, "Even almost got married / And for Pete I'm so thankful".

In early 2019, Davidson was in a relationship with actress Kate Beckinsale, a woman twenty years his senior. In response to media comments about the age difference, he said that such an age gap was new to him, and that the media should ask older men in longer relationships with younger women such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Alec Baldwin, Larry King, and Donald Trump about it. He also dated actress Margaret Qualley until their relationship ended in October 2019. He was involved with model Kaia Gerber from October 2019 to January 2020.

In August 2021, he split from Bridgerton actress Phoebe Dynevor after a five-month relationship.

Davidson and Kim Kardashian began dating in November 2021 (about a month after she hosted the show on October 9, 2021, and shared a kiss scnee with Pete in an 'Aladdin' sketch). Kardashian's estranged husband Kanye West referenced the relationship in his 2022 track "Eazy", in which he threatens to "beat Pete Davidson's ass". West further attacked Davidson on Instagram in February of the same year after posting an image of the latter and Kardashian together, branding him a "dickhead" as well as "Hillary Clinton's ex-boyfriend". A music video of 'Eazy' premiered via Instagram on March 2, 2022. The video is half claymation and half live-action. The video has been heavily criticized as it depicts West kidnapping, burying alive, and decapitating Pete Davidson, referencing West's divorce with Kim Kardashian. The two later broke up in August 2022, after nine months together.

Since December 2022, Pete Davidson has been dating Chase Sui Wonders. The two met on the set of Bodies Bodies Bodies and she later co-starred in an episode of Davidson's Peacock's streaming series Bupkis.

Space flight[]

In March 2022, spaceflight company Blue Origin announced that Davidson will be an "honorary guest" alongside five paying customers on a suborbital flight of its New Shepard craft planned for later that month. However, the flight was rescheduled, and Blue Origin announced that Davidson was "no longer able" to join the crew of the craft.