Thanks to Kanye West’s persistent efforts to set the record for the messiest divorce in history, Pete Davidson has found himself trapped in a high-profile love triangle—and thus a constant fixture in the celebrity news cycle—for months now.
The Saturday Night Live wunderkind was first romantically linked to Kim Kardashian in October. Since then, the couple has been photographed together dozens of times and coyly referred to each other as “boyfriend” and “girlfriend” in interviews. Davidson even has multiple tattoos referencing Kardashian, including one that says, and this is not a joke, “My girl is a lawyer.” All in all, it seems like a relatively happy relationship—as far as PR-manufactured celebrity romances go.
Except for the Kanye West of it all. Since the split, the 44-year-old rapper has been relentlessly disparaging his ex-wife on social media and in interviews, dragging their four kids into it and all the while issuing fruitless pleas for her to take him back. He has taken his online harassment so far that he was temporarily kicked off Instagram for violating the app’s bullying and hate speech policies. Earlier this week, he was barred from performing at the upcoming Grammy Awards due to the controversy.
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Davidson has been unwittingly dragged into the mess with West frequently targeting the comedian in his Instagram tirades. West brought the feud to a dangerous and disturbing level with a recent music video for his song “Eazy,” in which he tortures and kills an animated version of Davidson.
Many have spoken out against West’s actions, but this week, Davidson received vocal support from a friend and fellow comedian: Jon Stewart. During an interview for Sirius XM’s The Howard Stern Show on Tuesday, the former late-night host shared his thoughts on the situation, gushing about Davidson in the process.
“I know Pete real well,” Stewart told Stern. “He’s just a kid trying to live his life. He’s one of my favorite people. He’s just a fucking smart, funny kid trying to live his life and he’s just caught up and I think he’s doing as best he can in that situation, when you’re dealing with something that’s so explosive and loaded with all kinds of other things, and I just love that kid.”
Late last year, the two beloved funny guys set the internet abuzz when they were photographed at a Knicks game together. He explained to Stern that the two met through mutual A-list friends on the comedy scene.
“He and I know each other from comedy, from going on the road. Dave [Chappelle] and I were doing gigs in Boston and Houston and Pete came out and performed,” said Stewart. “And him and [John] Mulaney worked near where I live in Jersey, so I would go and buy pizza from a place and we’d just hang out. We became friends from that.”
He ended the conversation on a more somber note, with Stewart explaining why he feels so strongly about Davidson: “I always have, you know, a very paternal instinct on those guys. Because I’ve seen too many of my friends get in trouble and some of them die. It’s a fucked-up business.”
