It’s been so long since Pete Davidson and Ariana Grande were an item that it feels like a weird fever dream, but the SNL actor recently reflected about that chapter of his life, and why the media buzz around his "Big Dick Energy" was incredibly “embarrassing” for him. And while talking about it, it appears he brought up that viral intimate detail Ariana Grande shared back in the day about him.
If you’re not caught up on what happened, Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson began dating back in 2018 and became engaged weeks after becoming a couple before ultimately splitting up. During their whirlwind romance, Ariana Grande wrote a song called “Pete Davidson” on her album Sweetener, and when someone on Twitter asked her how “long” the track was, she answered with “Like 10 inches? …oh fuck…i mean…like a lil over a minute.” Here’s how Davidson seemed to point out the incident:
I think it was like the New York Times or something when I started dating someone that I guess they considered out of my league, which I think everyone is out of my league, but you know, they were like, ‘This guy must have big dick energy.’ And then someone confirmed it.
Davidson didn’t name names, but the comments definitely sound like a reference to Grande's since-deleted social media comment. His words were part of larger conversation on The Breakfast Club where he discussed that time in his life, when he was suddenly being talked about widely for his "BDE". Earlier in the chat, host Charlamagne asked why it was upsetting for him when he was apparently “banging a lot of hot chicks and you had a 10-inch penis.” Here’s how he responded:
You know, on paper, that sounds great, but it’s embarrassing, ‘cause, first of all, it’s Hollywood. Everybody fucks everyone. Everybody’s dating everybody. Why are they focusing on me? It’s because I’m not Glen Powell handsome, you know? I’m just this dude that tells dick jokes that is a drug addict.
Many of us remember that once Pete Davidson started dating celebrities, starting with Ariana Grande, there was a lot of discourse about why he was scoring girls who were deemed out of his league. As Davidson shared, he felt like he was being centered into those conversations because he wasn’t “Glen Powell handsome.” As he also added:
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 would be a march for it.
While Davidson sounds like he was hurt over Ariana Grande’s BDE comment, and how it fanned the flames about how he was being talked about in the media, recent history shows that he and Grande are on good terms. A recent report suggested Grande is “happy for Pete” as he expects his first child, and when Grande was nominated for her Oscar, Davidson showed support for her to win the award. As he also shared in the new interview:
I brought a lot of pop culture into the show. Like, I made it sort of a tabloid-y, trendy thing unintentionally. And also, I was embarrassed by it, because – now, it’s started to change a little bit, but no one talked about any work I was doing. They were just like, ‘Oh that’s the fuck stick.’ And that hurt so much.
Davidson has previously likened his sudden fame to getting “hit on the face with the Hollywood shovel”, but ultimately the experience was part of a larger journey and as of late he’s been feeling “very happy” about where he is “right now, mentally.” He also said this:
It had nothing to do with comedy, and also, that stuff affects relationships.
These days Pete Davidson’s career continues to soar, between his role in two 2025 movie releases so far, with The Pickup alongside Eddie Murphy and horror movie, The Home. He’s also expecting a child with girlfriend Elsie Hewitt, who went viral for their baby announcement last month. When Hewitt has asked about what it’s like dating Davidson, she’s said he’s the “best person” she’s “ever met” and “everyone deserves a Pete.”
