This probably isn’t going to make you feel all that sorry for Pete Davidson.
But the actor-comedian is calling out a media and fandom double standard when it comes to people obsessing over his penis size.
The former SNL cast member and actor-comedian visited The Breakfast Club podcast this week, where he talked about how his dating life made things awkward during his early years on the NBC late-night sketch comedy show.
“I brought a lot of pop culture into the show and I made it sort of a tabloid-y, trendy thing and I was embarrassed by it,” he said. “Nobody talked about any of the work I was doing, they were like, ‘Oh that’s the fuck stick.’ That hurt. After a year or two, everybody [on the cast] saw how sad and embarrassed i was … nobody was ever outright mean, but it was sort of like … ” Davidson trailed off.
At this, Charlamagne tha God asked what Davidson had to be embarrassed about, given he was “banging a lot of chicks and had a 10-inch penis.”
“On paper, that sounds great,” Davidson said, drawing laughs. “But it’s embarrassing. Because it’s Hollywood — everybody fucks everyone. Everyone dates everyone. Why are they focusing on me? I’m not Glen Powell handsome. I’m just a dude who tells dick jokes that is a drug addict. It had nothing to do with comedy. But also, that stuff affects relationships … I don’t want to victimize myself in any way — because I’m cool — but the sexualization of me … If [I] was a girl, there would be a march for it. Seriously. You’re talking about my dick all day? People do that on the internet to like Sydney Sweeney or whoever, [but] there’s no radio hosts or news people … they don’t talk about girls like [that in major media outlets]. [This] was professional. It was pointed out in the street.”
Davidson said that this tragic nightmare began when a news outlet became the first to enthusiastically brand him as having “big dick energy” as a way of explaining him dating Ariana Grande, who he says was perceived as being “out of my league.” (Davidson claimed the publication was The New York Times, but it was New York magazine’s The Cut in 2018). Later, “somebody confirmed it,” he said, while adding he “didn’t know” if the 10-inch claim was precisely correct.
Davidson said he’s received plenty of opportunities to sponsor products that played up his physical reputation (“like ‘big dick sandwiches’”), and that he turned them down until the female-targeted clothing company Reformation came up with an intriguing pitch earlier this year (branding him the brand’s “Official Boyfriend” along with photos of Davidson lounging in underwear).
Davidson — who first got sober in 2017 and again entered rehab in 2023 and 2024 — also noted that he came to the realization that he wants to find acting roles that play against his perceived type.
“If I want any shot in real movies, I can’t just play myself all the time,” he said. “So I had to step back and be in purgatory for a little bit.”
Davidson is currently starring along with Eddie Murphy in the Prime Video heist comedy, The Pickup.