Pete Davidson has returned to stand-up comedy. On April 29, the Saturday Night Live cast member tried out new material during Netflix Is A Joke: The Festival at the Hollywood Bowl. After a years-long hiatus from stand-up, the Staten Island-native took the stage and poked fun at his feud with Kanye West and his shared misfortune with Chris Rock.
As reported by Entertainment Tonight, Davidson opened his set addressing West. Davidson, who is dating West’s ex-wife Kim Kardashian, said that the Donda rapper informed Davidson that the comedian had AIDS — a false claim that West alleged about him over social media. Davidson joked that he believed West because he is a “genius,” a term that West regularly uses to describe himself. The 28-year-old continued to muse that being humiliated is weird when you can’t do anything about it.
Davidson also referenced attending a 2021 basketball game with Chris Rock and noted that awful things happened to both of them afterward. Davidson said that for Rock, it was Will Smith slapping him at the Oscars. For Davidson, it was his look-alike’s beheading in West’s music video.
West has publicly berated Davidson on social media since February 2022. The father-of-four has referred to the comedian as “Skete,” posted screenshots of Davidson’s text messages and depicted a claymation version of Davidson being decapitated in one of his music videos.
Things escalated between the men in March 2022. Davidson’s friend and collaborator, Dave Sirus, shared photos of an alleged lengthy text exchange between the SNL comedian and the Yeezy mogul in a since deleted Instagram post. “I’ve decided I’m not gonna let you treat us like this anymore and I’m done being quiet.” Davidson wrote to West. “Grow the f*** up.”
When West asked Davidson where he was texting him from, Davidson allegedly retorted, “In bed with your wife,” and sent along a picture as proof. The text exchange shows Davidson asking West to privately meet “man to man” to sort things out.
Davidson and Kardashian have been dating since October 2021 after first connecting in February of that year.
Kardashian told the Not Skinny But Not Fat podcast of the beginning of their relationship, “He had been asking around for my number a little bit and everyone wasn’t really sure, like, is she going through a divorce? He just wanted to wait a little bit.”
The couple first privately hung out at the Beverly Hills Hotel before being photographed holding hands at Knott’s Scary Farm in October 2021.
Kardashian continued to say that she and West “don’t really communicate” but that she hopes they will “get there” because “we have so much love for each other.”
“We’re always family,” the Keeping Up With the Kardashians star shared. “We love our kids, and we both love the time we spent together. We’ll … always cherish that.”
