After eight years, Saturday Night Live star Pete Davidson is leaving the show, and the recent episode may have featured his final sketch as a member of the cast.
Davidson showed up during the popular Weekend Update segment of the show, hosted by his friends Colin Jost and Michael Che.
He touched upon trending topics ranging from his feud with rapper Kanye West to Will Smith slapping SNL alum Chris Rock at the Oscars during that time, before getting sentimental in his goodbye.
Pete Davidson jokes about Kanye, Will Smith Oscars slap
In typical Pete Davidson fashion, the stand-up comedian and longtime SNL star delivered plenty of bold jokes during his farewell on Saturday Night Live this weekend. After getting introduced, he got right into things, not shying away from a quick mention of rapper Kanye West.
“Hello Colin and Che and millions of people only watching to see if I bring up Kanye,” Davidson joked at the start of his segment.
He joked that when he first started at Saturday Night Live, nobody really knew what race he was.
“Now they know I’m white because I became hugely successful while barely showing up to work,” he joked.
Davidson compared the way he’s aging to an “old banana” while “Colin still looks like the only Kennedy who doesn’t drink.”
Davidson also brought up a previous controversy where Fox News blasted him for his remarks about Senator Dan Crenshaw’s eyepatch. Pete said a lot has changed in the time he’s been at SNL, as Tucker Carlson and Fox News are now making fun of Crenshaw’s eyepatch.
“What I was saying, I was simply making a joke about someone’s appearance without realizing that the medical condition behind it was a sensitive issue, which is an SNL alumni tradition,” Davidson said as an image from just after Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars appeared on-screen.
The joke drew some laughs but also groans from the audience, which seemed to amuse Davidson.
“On one hand, I don’t like that people think they can just run up on stage and hit a comedian, but on the other, it’s how I know all my shows will now be sold out.”
Davidson shows love for Lorne Michaels, SNL
Before closing out, Pete joked about how he’ll miss SNL head honcho Lorne Michaels and some of the great advice he’s given him, including his advice when Davidson told him he’d got engaged to Ariana Grande after two weeks of dating.
“Oh, hold on for dear life,” Davidson said, giving an impression of his boss.
“I appreciate SNL always having my back and allowing me to work on myself and grow. Thank you to Lorne for never giving up on me or judging me when even like when everyone else was, and for believing in me and allowing me to have a place that like I could call home with memories that will last a lifetime,” Davidson said in an emotional end to his segment.
Reports arrived last week that Davidson was leaving the popular sketch comedy show after eight years. This past season saw him appearing less on SNL once he began dating Kim Kardashian and attracting more attention. The two reportedly linked up last October after Kim K was an SNL guest host and starred in a skit where she and Davidson kissed on-screen.
Once they started dating, Pete became a target for rapper Kanye West on social media, as West attacked the SNL star on Instagram in an attempt to put him down and get back with Kim Kardashian. West also made several mentions of Davidson and SNL in song lyrics, in what could be construed as threats towards him or the show.
A music video for the song Eazy featuring The Game took things a step farther with an animated version of West kidnapping and burying alive a claymation version of Davidson. Scenes in the video also suggested Davidson was beheaded.
Several months ago, West was eventually suspended from Instagram for 24 hours due to an IG post involving a slur towards Daily Show host Trevor Noah. Following the rapper’s ban from the platform, someone removed all of his IG posts, and he hasn’t been active on his page since.
West has been dating Chaney Jones, a woman many suggested was a Kim Kardashian lookalike. Kim Kardashian is still with Davidson as of this report, and things seem to be going strong for the couple, with Kim showing her support for Pete as he leaves SNL.