Featured Image Credit: Christopher Polk/Variety via Getty Images
Topics: Pete Davidson, Social Media, Celebrity
Ben Williams
Topics: Pete Davidson, Social Media, Celebrity
Pete Davidson has come under fire after a joke he made about life as a new dad left a lot of people seriously unimpressed. What may have been intended as a quick punchline during a live set instead snowballed online, with some viewers saying it crossed a line rather than landed as comedy.
The 32-year-old only recently became a father, and that part of his life has clearly started feeding into his material. On the other hand, while plenty of stand-up routines lean on shock value, this one seems to have hit a nerve for a very specific reason, with critics arguing the subject matter felt needlessly uncomfortable.
As clips and write-ups circulated, the reaction on social media platforms like X (formerly Twitter) was swift. Instead of laughing it off, users zeroed in on what Davidson had chosen to link to fatherhood, and why bringing his daughter into that part of the joke felt off to them.
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According to Us Weekly, Davidson made the remark during a comedy show at Las Vegas’ The Fontainebleau on 11 April. He told the crowd: “I haven’t done stand-up in 5 months because I just had a baby; it’s a lot of fun,” before adding: “[I] got a little girl. It’s weird having a little girl. It’s hard to watch porn … in front of her.” He then followed it up with: “I still did. I power through.”
That was enough to spark a pile-on online. Replying to TMZ's X post reporting the situation, one user replied: “This is screaming all level[s] of creepy.” Another wrote: “Men using their daughters as a springboard for finally seeing women and girls as people will forever be weird…also associating your daughters with every experience you have of women is equally weird.” A third added: “Why would you associate porn with your daughter? Those are two different things.”
The backlash is especially hard-hitting given how warmly Davidson has spoken about his new fatherhood elsewhere. After Davidson and his girlfriend — Elsie Hewitt — welcomed their first child in December 2025, the comedian later revealed that the baby’s name is not only a tribute to Pete’s late dad, Scott Davidson, but also Scotland, the country itself.
In a January interview with Us Weekly, Davidson described becoming a parent as ‘the biggest gift’, adding that ‘Nothing else matters as much or intensely, like career, activities, hanging out with people [or] what do people think of me, that sort of s***.’