The Internet's been obsessed with Pete Davidson and Ariana Grande's whirlwind romance. After three weeks of dating, and a lot of public flirting, they got engaged. "I feel like I won a contest. It’s so sick. It’s f**king lit," Pete told Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show. "Some guy came up to me and said, ‘yo man, you like gave me hope.’ I didn’t know I was that ugly."
The 24-year-old stand-up comedian is used to fame, having spent four seasons on Saturday Night Live. However, dating Ariana catapults him to a whole new level. Now his life is under the tabloid microscope, which is good news for his enormous package, but bad news for his history as a comedian.
Recently The Mirror reported that during a set at The Laugh Factory, Pete cracked a joke about the Manchester terrorist attack. The bombing occurred during an Ariana Grande concert in May 2017. 22 people were killed, with 59 injured, and Ariana suffered afterward from PTSD. During a stand-up set last fall, Pete allegedly said now Ariana realizes how famous she is, because "Britney Spears didn’t have a terrorist attack at her concert."
Well, that's an awkward joke to resurface, now that Pete and Ariana are engaged. And for the families of the victims, it opened up old wounds. Charlotte Hodgson, whose 15-year-old daughter was killed in the attack, told The Mirror his joke was "disgusting." "We don’t need jokes about it," said Charlotte. "There have been plenty around, and it’s heartbreaking to hear every day. But for someone so famous to be doing it and now to be with Ariana, it’s outrageous."
Ariana fans expressed their outrage for the tasteless joke on Twitter, wondering why the singer would stay with Pete. "I respect Ariana and I want her to be happy and everything," wrote the user @ariissalegend. "But she was just broken after the Manchester bombing, so I don’t know why she is still with Pete, like yeah he made that joke a while ago, but like it’s not funny, it’s just rude. This is my opinion."
Today Ariana finally broke her silence on the matter, replying, "this has been v tough & conflicting on my heart. he uses comedy to help ppl feel better ab how f-ed up things in this world are. we all deal w trauma differently. I of course didn’t find it funny. it was months ago & his intention wasn’t/ is never malicious but it was unfortunate."
Anyone familiar with Pete's material knows he is no stranger to tragedy. His father, firefighter Scott Davidson, was killed in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York City. Pete often mentions this in his act, turning his personal tragedy into humor. For example, at a Comedy Central Roast, Pete told Snoop Dogg, "[Your movie] Soul Plane was the worst experience of my life involving a plane." (Of course, that's Pete making fun of his own tragedy, not someone else's.)
A source close to Davidson told People, "The joke was taken out of context. He lost his dad in 9/11 and is close with other victims of violent tragedies. As a way of coping he turns to humor. …He’s obviously sensitive to tragedy as he lost his own father and his intention is to just make people laugh."
Well, it looks like their engagement isn't #Cancelled. It's still "f***king lit."
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