In a raw, almost bitter sit-down on The Breakfast Club, Davidson, then 31, opened up about the “traumatic” fallout of his 2018 engagement to Ariana Grande. Being the internet’s poster boy for “Big D–k Energy” wasn’t the flex it was made out to be, especially when it turned a career into a punchline.
Davidson didn’t hold back on how it felt to have his Saturday Night Live tenure reduced to tabloid fodder. While he was trying to write sketches, the public was busy dissecting his personal life.
“I was embarrassed because no one talked about any work I was doing,” Davidson admitted. “They were just like, ‘Oh, that’s the f–k stick.’ And that hurt so much.”
The comedian described the era as a spiral where he brought too much pop culture into the show, eventually realizing that his dating life had swallowed his craft. The BDE label that came with dating someone the public considered “out of his league” came at a cost he wasn’t prepared for.
The fever started in June 2018, when Grande responded to a fan asking about the length of the “pete davidson” track. She famously quipped: “like 10 inches? … oh f–k… I mean… like a lil over a minute.”
While the internet cheered, Davidson was left dealing with the fallout in his personal life. He called the experience of navigating that level of public scrutiny “traumatic,” noting that having thousands of voices weighing in made it difficult to actually connect with a partner. For Pete, the BDE label wasn’t a badge of honor.
The Davidson-Grande relationship burned out as quickly as it started, becoming engaged within weeks and ending within months. Since then, Grande has moved on, while Davidson continues to build his career and prepare for fatherhood.
Davidson’s new chapter well underway. The internet can keep its meme.
