I Feel Bad for the Pete Davidson BDE Commentary Now

When I first started as a full-time blogger back in 2018, Pete Davidson was one of the most clicked-on names on the internet. He was dating Ariana Grande, he was the mystique of Saturday Night Live and he had gotten the title of having “Big Dick Energy.” Without fail, writing a story about Davidson’s latest exploits would get the highest engagement on the site. And we were also publishing stories about immigration raids, abortion rights and the first Donald Trump administration. 

But when you’re a media darling (or victim, it’s often the same thing), it’s very easy to get dehumanized. The publication I worked for at the time, The Cut, was instrumental in circulating the “BDE” moniker for Davidson. And while Davidson was open about not loving the nickname back then, he opened up more on a recent episode of The Breakfast Club about the impact it had. 

First, he started by saying that his fame and presence probably initially annoyed other SNL cast members who had been working really hard to be where they were for a long time, while by comparison Davidson started on the show only a few years into his career. Then, when he was on SNL, much of the conversation in the media revolved around his personal life, not the sketches or any of the work Davidson was doing. “I think I did rub people the wrong way. And I think it was just annoying for the cast,” Davidson reflected. “I think the show as a whole loved it cuz they were like people are talking about SNL.”

“No one talked about any work I was doing,” Davidson continued. “(The media) were just like, ‘Oh that’s the fuck stick.’ And like that hurt so much. After like a year or two, everyone saw how sad I was about it, and embarrassed. I was never on Instagram like you know flexing that sort of lifestyle at all. I was very embarrassed by it. So I think after a while they understood…”

Davidson elaborated that no one on the cast was ever outright mean about this, but there was definitely a separation caused by the persona the media had given him. “What were you embarrassed by though? You were banging a lot of hot chicks, and you had a 10-inch penis,” Charlamagne followed up with. 

Fair question. 

“You know, on paper that sounds great,” Davidson continued. “But it’s embarrassing because, you know, first of all, it’s Hollywood. Everybody fucks everyone. Everybody’s dating everybody. Why are they focusing on me? I’m not Glenn Powell handsome, you know? I’m just this dude that tells dick jokes that is a drug addict.

“That stuff affects relationships. Seeing that and trying to move around and go on dates and just be like a young dude who’s trying to figure out who he is. I don’t want to victimize myself in any way because I’m cool, but the sexualization of me — if that was a girl, there’d be a march for it. Seriously you’re just talking about my dick all day?”

Davidson isn’t delusional; he points out that people do that about Sydney Sweeney’s body on the internet all day long. But in his case, it was legitimate news outlets, radio hosts and television personalities — people who are arguably held to a higher standard than the random Redditor — reporting on and extensively discussing the dick size of a public figure. Ironically, The Breakfast Club interview then devolves into its own conversation about Davidson’s penis, with Davidson minimally participating.  

Anyways. I don’t agree that famous women’s bodies and sex lives aren’t public fodder in the same way that Davidson’s body was. We don’t have time to get into the way Kim Kardashian, Ariana Grande, Jessica Simpson, Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus, Halle Berry and Beyoncé have been discussed in the press. However, I do agree there’s still a dissimilar level of outrage or even awareness when men are sexually harassed by the public. 

We’d probably be collectively better as a society if media outlets held themselves to a higher standard when it came to reporting on the bodies of famous people. Maybe we can institute a media-wide rule that’s like: No genitals talk, no questions about labubus, only one publication per press run can make celebrities read viral tweets. Retroactive justice for Pete, and some integrity for the rest of us. 

And really, it’s entirely possible that Davidson’s comedy career and his time at SNL was altered by how the media covered him. At 23, I spent my nights and weekends blogging stories for $23 an hour about then 25-year-old Davidson’s outings to Carbone and anticipated appearances on Weekend Update. I probably even used “BDE” in reference to the comedian a time or two. For my part in it all: I’m sorry, Pete. If it’s any consolation, I hated typing it. Probably not as much as you hated reading it, but still. I think there were smarter digs to make about all of the Staten Island jokes, and it was a missed opportunity. 

Now, though, Davidson has embraced the period of weird sexualization — enough to monetize it, at least. “Once I got sober, I was just like I have not capitalized on people talking about my dick for over a decade. I was like I should make some money over this, you know? I’ve actually been sent a lot of stuff over the years like big dick sandwich, big dick this.”

Here’s to whatever is next, Pete. Just please, don’t let it be an Arby’s commercial. I don’t want to sit through “He Has the MEAT!” during the Super Bowl.