Pete Davidson compares Kanye West’s behavior with Will Smith’s Oscars slap
Pete Davidson sounded off Thursday about girlfriend Kim Kardashian’s ex, Kanye West, during his first stand-up comedy show in three years.
Performing as part of the “Dave Chappelle and Friends” show on the opening night of the Netflix Is a Joke comedy festival, Davidson’s set at the Hollywood Bowl included material about the “Heartless” rapper, his relationship with Kardashian, and Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the 94th Academy Awards, according to Entertainment Tonight.
Since Davidson began dating Kardashian amid her turbulent divorce from West, the “Donda” musical artist has repeatedly targeted the “Saturday Night Live” star in his music videos and on social media.
Find interviews, recommendations and more in our day-by-day guide to the citywide Netflix Is a Joke comedy festival, which runs April 28 to May 8.
During his Netflix Is a Joke routine, Davidson reportedly compared Smith’s decision to slap fellow comedian Rock at the Oscars with West’s music video for the song “Eazy.” Davidson recalled attending the same basketball game as Rock back in December, which he dubbed the “before time,” when they didn’t know what was coming next. In the “Eazy” video, a claymation version of West kidnaps and decapitates a claymation version of Davidson.
The comic also made a quip about West — who has legally changed his name to Ye — allegedly telling people Davidson has AIDS. Davidson said that he nearly believed Ye’s purported claims because the recording artist “is a genius.”
“Am I the only one who secretly hopes Kanye will go full Mrs. Doubtfire?” Davidson quipped, according to Variety. (The 1993 film “Mrs. Doubtfire” starred Robin Williams as a man who disguises himself as a woman to work in his ex-wife’s home to be closer to his children.)
At one point, Davidson gave his friend Jack Harlow a pass for collaborating with Ye on the track “Louie Bags” — but joked that he would be “hurt” if his “King of Staten Island” co-star Bill Burr ever attended one of the rapper’s “Sunday Service” shows.
After Davidson performed, headliner Chappelle took the stage and addressed the backlash to his Netflix special “The Closer,” which included transphobic material. According to NBC News, Chappelle said the special was made with good intentions but details of his set were not permitted to be published, and attendees were required to place phones and recording devices in locked pouches.
The following night, Davidson headlined his own show for the Netflix comedy festival at Hollywood’s Fonda Theatre. That event featured a number of special guests — including Carly Aquilino, Giulio Gallarotti, Joey Gay, Jordan Rock, Dave Sirus, Big Wet, Neko White and Machine Gun Kelly. Davidson was seen exiting the Fonda Theatre with Kardashian. The couple also attended the White House correspondents dinner, hosted by Trevor Noah, on Saturday.
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