Pete Davidson recently made headlines after an interview with Variety’s “Ask A Local” series where he expressed his disdain for the influencer industry. Sure, we all have our grievances with being used for capital online via overconsumption and oversharing, but that’s not what Mr. Davidson is concerned about. His rant focused on women earning “$40 million,” which seemingly came from nowhere for doing what, to him, looks like “nothing.” Say what you want about influencers, but they are not doing nothing. I mean, they’re doing basically the same thing Pete Davidson does: making a name for themselves through something creative and connecting with people because of it. Influencers may “just” post their makeup, outfits and life struggles, but how is that different from what he does? He built a show out of his own family and struggles, joked about Ariana Grande in a Netflix special, and now records a podcast in his garage. That is a GRWM on a Netflix budget.
Mind you, Pete Davidson is not famous for the things he creates. I vaguely remember his whole King of Staten Island (is that even right? Will genuinely have to Google), the one time his story actually landed, but I stopped paying attention after that. He’s been trying to tell that story ever since, and no one wants to hear it. But really, he is famous for who he fucks, and he knows it. He’s leaning on it again, as he tends to, in this press tour for (I had to look this up) the upcoming film How to Rob a Bank, out November 13. He’s mentioned his two arguably most famous exes, Ariana Grande and Kim Kardashian, the original influencer, in purely positive terms, saying he and Grande are “cool.”
He’s also campaigning on the New Father trope, but it’s less convincing when you consider that he reportedly split from the mother of his child only five months after their daughter Scottie was born, then sat down for a press tour about how fatherhood changed him. He seems to have stayed single since, so it seems like the white girls in Brooklyn have finally figured him out.
The punchline, if you can call it that, of his anti-influencer rant was that he often ponders starting an OnlyFans and retiring if his career nosedives.
But, a nose dive implies that he’s flying high, and I guess I’m just confused? Because, once again, Pete Davidson is not famous for Bupkis (2023), The Home (2025), or his podcast, The Pete Davidson Show (2026). Evidence directly points to the contrary: The Pickup (2025) sits at 24% with critics and 35% with audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, and The Home (2025) grossed about $1.8 million worldwide before landing on streaming services within weeks. He is famous for his SNL days and for being linked to Cazzie David, Kate Beckinsale, Margaret Qualley, Emily Ratajkowski, and Phoebe Dynevor, in addition to the aforementioned superstars. He is paparazzi famous. Tabloid famous. But he has no idea.
Pete repeatedly complains that his dating life eclipses his work, but he refuses to reflect on what that might mean. His comments to Variety reveal a lot about how he feels about women at large, but more so, about how he feels about himself. He is not the self-loathing, trauma-ridden “aw shucks” guy he purports to be. He thinks he is a star, and that he’s earned it through his creative projects. He thinks he’s worked hard for his success, that he’s faced challenges others can’t understand. He thinks he’s smart and funny and successful.
I suppose I’m just struck by both the hypocrisy and the larger lack of self awareness, which is successfully disguised under a self deprecating sense of humor. While I’ve never been his biggest fan, I always felt like he recognized that he’d tripped and fallen into his situation, but this interview exposed the real him. Pete Davidson wants to be taken very seriously for making shit no one sees and podcasting from his garage.
Inspired by Rachel Lowenstein on Instagram: