Pete Davidson Says “BDE” Talk Embarrassed Him and Hijacked His Career
Sage Matthews here, bleary-eyed and mildly furious, because apparently our culture decided a man’s anatomy was a headline worth recycling for years. Of course this happened.
Pete Davidson, the 31-year-old comedian and former Saturday Night Live cast member, told The Breakfast Club on August 13 that the long-running chatter about his so-called “big d–k energy” embarrassed him and ended up hurting his career. He said the sexualized focus eclipsed his actual work and made his early years in show business more about tabloids than talent. “I was embarrassed by it,” Pete said, explaining that people only wanted to talk about his sex life and not the sketches or stand-up he was doing.
The Bupkis star traced the origin of the frenzy back to 2018, when he was engaged to Ariana Grande and public fascination about his body intensified. Grande did not hide affection for him at the time, which only fueled gossip columns. That attention persisted after their split and followed him into relationships with other high-profile partners. Kim Kardashian, who dated him briefly in 2021, famously admitted she was intrigued in part because of the rumors. Pete acknowledged how dehumanizing it felt to be reduced to a sex object while trying to build a career in comedy and television.
He admitted the obsession affected Saturday Night Live in complex ways. According to Pete, the show benefitted from the pop culture buzz since it drove conversations about SNL, but his castmates were annoyed that the focus was on his private life rather than the ensemble’s work. He said no one was outright mean, but that people kept their distance and that the situation became “sad” after almost two years of relentless attention. Pete blamed Hollywood’s fetish for gossip, noting that he is not the conventional leading-man type and that public interest was partly because he stood out as a messy, self-described “drug addict” who cracks crude jokes.
Pete also reminded listeners he has addressed the topic previously, telling The Breakfast Club in 2023 that the whole obsession made no sense and that his anatomy was “very normal-sized.” Now, expecting his first child with girlfriend Elsie Hewitt, he seems to be nudging his private life into a new chapter while still processing the fallout from earlier exposure.
This episode is a blunt example of how celebrity culture cannibalizes people. A private detail becomes a viral meme, then a narrative, then a millstone around a performer’s neck. Pete’s candidness is refreshing, but also proof that in modern fame, nothing about you is just yours anymore. He called out the way the media and pop culture conversation turned him into a trending commodity rather than a comic doing his work.
So yes, the jokes about size were funny to some and humiliating to others. The show profited from it, the tabloids fed on it, and Pete ended up explaining why it all felt humiliating. What to watch next: whether Pete’s new chapter as a dad will finally quiet the gossip mill, or whether social media will repackage personal life into another narrative to chew on.
Anyway, expect this to age terribly and spectacularly.
Sources: Celebrity Storm and E! Online, The Breakfast Club (radio interview)
Attribution: Creative Commons Licensed
