Saturday Night Live star Pete Davidson took the stage Monday night, New Year’s Eve, in Boston for his first comedy stand-up set since his troubling Instagram note two weeks ago which raised concerns he was having suicidal thoughts. He opened up about his ex-fiancée Ariana Grande and her recently released song “Thank U, Next” said to have been partly inspired by her breakup with Davidson, calling it a “sad day,” according to a report in the New York Times.
The song was released November 3, just moments before Saturday Night Live aired. “That s–t came out before I had to put on a f–king duck hat and be like, ‘derrrp here’s the pizza!’ So all my friends were there. It was a sad day,” Davidson told the crowd. “We didn’t know it was going to happen.”
“This won’t be easy, this is rough,” he continued. “So I start playing it. And we’re all like, ‘Ehhh… it’s ok.’ We’re like ‘Okay, it’s not that bad for you. It’s bad, but it’s not that bad for you.'”
He also joked about how his mother, a school nurse, has faced taunts from students singing “Thank U, Next” as she walked down a hallway. “Me, I get it, but my mom?” he asked.
Davidson then turned his attention to comedian Louis C.K., mocking him for his recently leaked jokes about Parkland shooting survivors and those who identify as gender non-binary.
“I got a Harry Potter tattoo,” he began. “Then the next day Alan Rickman the guy who played Snape died, and I was like, oh, what a weird coincidence.”
Strange enough. He went on, “Then I got a Willy Wonka tattoo. Next day—Gene Wilder dies. Now I’m like, alright, that’s a coincidence, that’s weird. So I’m thinking of getting a tattoo of Louis C.K., what do you guys think?” Davidson continued, “That joke used to be about Aziz Ansari, but Aziz has been nice to me recently.”
Davidson caused concern among fans, friends and loved ones in his note on December 15. “I’m doing my best to stay here for you but I actually don’t know how much longer I can last,” Davidson, who is very open about his mental health, wrote on Instagram. “All I’ve ever tried to do was help people. Just remember I told you so.”
Davidson deleted his social media accounts shortly thereafter and has been getting an outpouring of support.
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