Pete Davidson Says He Was ‘Very Embarrassed’ by BDE Discourse: ‘Why Are They Focusing on Me?’

Pete Davidson is looking back at the overwhelming attention to his apparent “big d*** energy” during his relationship with now-ex Ariana Grande.

“I was never on Instagram flexing that sort of lifestyle at all. I was very embarrassed by it,” Davidson, 31, said during his Wednesday, August 13, appearance on The Breakfast Club radio show. “I think after a while, [my Saturday Night Live castmates] understood, but at first they were like, ‘This kid’s just allowed, and this has nothing to do with SNL.’”

Davidson’s then-fiancée, Grande, had teased the size of the comedian’s body parts when they were together. (Davidson and Grande, now 32, split in 2018. They are now in relationships with Elsie Hewitt and Ethan Slater, respectively.)

“I just want to be clear [that] no one was ever outrightly mean by any means,” Davidson said of the response to the viral discourse. “It was, sort of, like, ‘Hey.’ On paper, that sounds great, right? But, it’s embarrassing ‘cause, first of all, it’s Hollywood. Everybody f***s everybody. Everybody’s dating everybody.”

He continued, “Why are they focusing on me? I’m not ‘Glen Powell handsome,’ you know? I’m just a dude [who] tells d*** jokes, [and who] is a drug addict. It had nothing to do with comedy, and also that stuff affects relationships.”

According to Davidson, the commentary about his body made it difficult to “go on dates and be a young dude trying to figure out who he is.”

“I don’t want to victimize myself in any way because I’m cool, but the sexualization of me, like, if that was a girl, people [would hold] a march for her,” he quipped of the double standard. “Seriously, you just talk about my d*** all day, [but what] if you talk about [a girl’s body]?”