Pete Davidson’s ex brutally calls him out following his controversial comments about influencers

Pete Davidson has been publicly called out by singer Olivia O’Brien after his comments about social media influencers sparked a backlash online.

The former Saturday Night Live comedian, 32, recently questioned how some online personalities were able to make enormous sums of money from posting content, taking particular aim at creators he believed were earning millions without doing much in return.

Davidson's remarks prompted criticism from a number of people working in the industry, but O’Brien, 26, took the row in a more personal direction.

The singer joined the comments beneath an Instagram post criticising Davidson’s views and made a series of claims about their own history, including how she says their relationship came to an end.

“I was dating him in 2020 and found out we were no longer together by seeing on Snapchat Daily Mail that he went public with a more famous woman lmaooo,” O’Brien wrote.

The comedian has caused uproar with his comments about influencers and their earnings (Photo by Manoli Figetakis/Getty Images)

She then delivered a particularly cutting assessment of Davidson, calling him ‘an absolute joke of a human being’, reports Cosmpolitan.

Responding to another user, O’Brien claimed the pair had been in near-constant contact at the time.

“Not sure how he has the time considering we were texting 24 hours a day and falling asleep on FaceTime when we weren’t together,” she wrote, before adding: “Busy boy! lmfao.”

Her intervention came after Davidson expressed disbelief at the amount of money being made by some influencers.

During an interview with Variety, he questioned a culture in which creators could reportedly earn as much as $40 million a year from their online presence, including by posting dances and ‘get ready with me’ videos.

He told the outlet: "It's bad, and it makes me sad, you know, and girls are just talking to themselves on there, and they're like, 'Okay, come get ready with me,' and I'm like….. ‘What do you do?' Nothing.’”

The comments prompted a wider debate over the influencer economy, with critics accusing Davidson of dismissing the work involved in building and maintaining large online audiences, with some drawing comparisons with how much professional footballers get paid.

Back in 2022, O’Brien previously denied having dated Davidson, after she appeared on the BFFs podcast and was questioned about an anonymous Deuxmoi submission which claimed Davidson had ended a relationship with a ‘B-list pop star/influencer’ before reportedly becoming involved with Bridgerton actress Phoebe Dynevor.

Olivia O'Brien has hit out at the star (Photo by Mark Von Holden/Variety via Getty Images)

She said they had been talking in October 2020 and claimed Davidson eventually texted her to say: “I’m seeing someone else so I can’t.”

O’Brien later issued a clarification on Instagram, saying reports had taken her podcast remarks ‘wayyy out of context’, according to Page Six.

“I never claimed to date anyone,” she wrote at the time, adding: “Stop trying to start weird drama over me texting someone 2 years ago.”

Davidson’s criticism of influencers has meanwhile attracted responses from elsewhere in the industry.

Content creator Sophie Rain, who has publicly claimed to have earned more than $40million in a year, responded directly to his comments and defended the work involved in maintaining a successful online career.

She acknowledged that influencing was not comparable with many conventional full-time jobs, but argued that remaining relevant required creators to produce material consistently and keep their audiences engaged.