Pete Davidson has openly discussed the impact of public comments about his penis size on his life.
In 2018, the comedian and Ariana Grande had a fast-paced and highly publicized romance, even getting engaged just weeks into their relationship.
Despite their split by the end of that year, Grande had hinted she was working on a song named ‘Pete Davidson’, referencing her then-fiancé.
It was during this time that Grande responded to a fan’s question about the length of the song “How long is Pete?” with a playful remark: “Like 10 inches? …. Oh f**k …. I mean … like a lil over a minute.”
While fans were amused by her joke, Davidson himself did not find it as humorous.
In a 2020 Netflix special, Davidson remarked: “I don’t like that she talked all that sh*t for my penis.”
Recently, on The Breakfast Club, Davidson discussed how the remark had affected his public image, relationships, and career.
He expressed his feelings to host Charlamagne tha God, explaining that he was ’embarrassed’ during his time on SNL, as he inadvertently brought tabloid-style ‘pop culture’ attention to the show.
“I was embarrassed by it because, now it’s started to change a little bit, but no one talked about any work I was doing.
“They were like, ‘Oh that’s the f*** stick.’ And that hurt, like so much.
“I think after a year or two, everyone saw how sad I was about it and embarrassed because I was never on Instagram flexing that sort of lifestyle at all, I was very like embarrassed by it.”
Despite feeling embarrassed, Davidson noted: “No one was ever outrightly mean by any means.”
Charlamagne tha God asked: “What were you embarrassed by though? You were banging a lot of hot chicks and you had a 10-inch penis.”
“On paper, that sounds great,” Davidson admitted with a laugh. “But it’s embarrassing because, first of all, it’s Hollywood. Everybody f***s everyone. Everybody’s dating everybody. Why are they focusing on me?
“I’m not Glenn-Powell-handsome, you know? I’m just this dude that tells d**k jokes that looks like a drug addict.”
He further explained how the attention impacted his dating life: “It had nothing to do with comedy and also that stuff affects relationships.
“Seeing that and trying to move around and go on dates and just be like a young dude who’s trying to figure out who he is – I don’t want to victimize myself in anyway because I’m cool, but like the sexualisation of me..
“If that was a girl, people would be like, there would be a march for it.”
Davidson traced the origins of the speculation to a media report describing him as having ‘big d**k energy’ while dating someone perceived as ‘out of his league’.
“And then someone confirmed it,” Davidson said coyly.
“They’ll figure it out,” he joked.
It wasn’t only Grande who commented on Davidson’s persona; Kim Kardashian, another of his ex-girlfriends, also referenced his ‘big d**k energy’.
During The Kardashians, she recounted meeting Davidson after an SNL appearance and asking for his number.
“I was just thinking, ‘Heard about this BDE [big d**k energy], need to get out there, I need to jumpstart my…” the star paused. “I was basically DTF [down to f***].”