Pete Davidson is grappling with fresh grief as the 25th anniversary of 9/11 approaches, now that he is the same age his father was when he died.
The “Saturday Night Live” alum, who turns 33 in November, told The Post that reaching his father’s age has reframed everything he thought he understood about the loss. “I thought, ‘Oh, he was an old guy. He’s 33,'” Davidson said. “But now I’m there, and I have a kid, and that would be like my kid not having her dad.”
Davidson welcomed his daughter Scottie with model Elsie Hewitt in December. The couple split shortly after her birth, but Davidson said they found common ground on the baby’s name. “It was really cool that Elsie also wanted to name her Scottie,” he said. “My dad’s name was Scott, but his nickname was Scotty. When she arrived, we both looked at her and were like, ‘She looks like a Scottie.’ It’s nice to keep that name alive.”
The infant already seems strangely connected to the grandfather she will never meet. Davidson described how Scottie would stare at a photograph of his father during sink baths, and how the behavior persisted after he moved the picture to a new spot in his Brooklyn apartment. “When I walk around, Scottie always turns her head and looks at him,” he said. “I don’t know what I believe in, but I like to think that his presence is somehow around.”
He has not yet figured out how to explain the death to his daughter. “Luckily, I have some time,” the Staten Island native said. “Honestly, this year is way harder than it’s been in a really long time because I have Scottie, and now I’m the age that my dad was when he died. So I’m just kind of like, ‘Holy s–t.'”
Still, Davidson said he looks forward to sharing what remains of his father with her. “I have old videos and pictures and stuff, and I’m excited to share the classic stories I have of him with her,” he said.
To mark the anniversary, Davidson is reuniting with Jon Stewart to host “NYC Still Rising After 25 Years: A 9/11 Comedy Benefit” at Madison Square Garden on Sept. 10. Proceeds will support charities serving first responders and their families. “Jon Stewart’s my guy,” Davidson said. “Talk about someone who’s so New York and represents the tri-state area — and is just the barometer of goodwill. We’re pals. We did the 20th anniversary at the Garden, and we had every great comic. It was such a special night.”
The event carries personal weight beyond his own loss. Stewart became a leading advocate for rescue and recovery workers after many developed severe illnesses from toxic dust at Ground Zero, working with campaigners including demolition supervisor John Feal to pressure Congress into passing the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, signed into law in 2019 and funded through 2092. “He was also personally affected by 9/11, and it’s just nice to have a brother in that,” Davidson said of Stewart.
Davidson and Stewart have previously spent anniversaries visiting firehouses and the Port Authority. “We look up to those guys,” Davidson said. “We think they’re so cool,” He added that the benefit format allows attendees to set grief aside temporarily. “Benefits are tricky, and 9/11 is such a sad thing. So to be able to check that at the door and have a good time for a great cause is one of my favorite things. This is fun for us because all the firefighters, first responders, police and EMTs come, and we’re fans of them. A lot of those guys are my dad’s friends and colleagues.”
Davidson was 7 years old when his father Scott, a firefighter with Brooklyn Heights’ Ladder Company 118, died in the September 11 attacks. Afterward, he and his sister Casey, now 28, spent summers at America’s Camp, a free therapeutic program near Boston for children affected by 9/11. “I went for six or seven years,” he said. “My sister and I went every summer for a week, and it was awesome. We had counselors from all over the world, like Wales and Australia, who volunteered their time. It was a free camp. People worked there just for the love.” He later ran into Taylor Swift at “SNL” and thanked her for performing at the camp one year — and she remembered.
The camp has since closed, but Davidson stays in touch with fellow alumni. “We all love each other,” he said. “There are people from Boston and New Hampshire. It wasn’t just firefighters and police we lost. It was people on the flights and people who were in the city that day. It was people from all over. They stopped doing the camp because we all grew up, but whenever we see each other, we’re immediately thrown back to really good times. It was nice to have a camp full of people who got it. We all shared this thing.”
One motivation for the benefit is Davidson’s frustration with how the anniversary gets processed online. “It’s this weird thing that happens in our country where a tragedy over time becomes a holiday. And then sometimes I know the youth on the internet uses 9/11 memes as jokes. Someone will be like, ‘This song’s fire,’ and then they’ll post the towers … and we’re the ones that have to see that s–t all the time,” he said. “And it’s very nice that people that have nothing to do with it post a photo on that day and they’ll never forget. But it’s also like, you guys have no f–king idea, actually.”
The comedy format, he said, is partly an attempt to reclaim the day from repetitive documentary coverage. “We want to reclaim the day and just have fun,” Davidson said, “and not be in the middle of 12 documentaries that are so sad and rehash it.”
Despite the city’s changes, Davidson maintains that New York’s core resilience endures. “The one thing I know our city and our state are really good at is coming together and having other people’s backs when the chips are down,” he said. “New York has changed since I was a kid. It’s damn near unrecognizable. But we show up for each other. At the end of the day, that’s what New York is.”
Davidson plans to spend September 11 itself with his daughter. “So this year is extra tough, but also extra beautiful because I get to spend the day with Scottie,” he said. “It’ll be very healing and special.”
The “NYC Still Rising After 25 Years: A 9/11 Comedy Benefit” takes place at Madison Square Garden on Sept. 10.