There are many upsides to dating a comic, the most obvious of which is that even if he’s pretty much guaranteed to at least occasionally say something funny.
The downside is that if he’s a shock value-peddling, habitual line-stepping type, he might just as often say something that offends your sensibilities and/or jeopardizes your reputation.
That’s the lesson Ariana Grande is learning the hard way this week, as comments made by her new fiance, Pete Davidson, have put her in a very awkward position.
Ayo may recall, an Ariana concert in Manchester, England was the scene of a horrific tragedy when a terrorist bombing killed 23 and injured 139 others.
During a standup performance that took place just days after the bombing, Davidson joked that the incident must have led Ariana to realize just how famous she is, as “Britney Spears didn’t have a terrorist attack at her concert”.
Yep, it’s one of those jokes that’s not nearly funny enough to justify its own existence.
Clearly, Pete’s one of those comics who thinks edginess can serve as a substitute for wit.
(After all, this is a guy who named his poorly-received debut standup special SMD, an acronym for “suck my d-ck.”)
Unfortunately for Davidson, it’s harder than ever to pull that off that particular schtick these days.
Not only have modern conceptions about political correctness placed new restrictions (some necessary, some inane) on the sort of subject matter that comics can joke about, the internet has made it very difficult to
Certain masters of the form like Dave Chappelle can still leave an audience in stitches (and even spark important conversations) with material that would fall well outside of what most would consider the limits of good taste.
But Pete Davidson is no master of the form, and not surprisingly, his comments have provoked outrage and disgust from those who were personally affected by the bombing.
While the offending routine is over a year old (talk about “too soon”), Pete’s remarks resurfaced this week thanks to his high-profile romance with Ariana.
Charlotte Hodgson, whose 15-year-old daughter Olivia Campbell-Hardy was killed in the bombing — granted an interview with The Mirror this week, in which she described Davidson’s comments as “heartbreaking and outrageous” and added that the other families “will find it equally as disgusting.”
“For anyone to joke about this situation is disgusting and I think he should publicly apologize for it,” Hodgson remarked.
Astonishingly, Davidson has yet to do so.
Defenders of the comic have noted that his father was a 9/11 first responder who was died during rescue efforts.
This may have left Davidson with the idea that he’s uniquely able to joke about similar tragedies with greater sensitivity than other comics — but clearly, not everyone agrees with that self-assessment.
In somewhat related news, Ariana recently got a new tattoo honoring Pete’s fallen father.
Obviously, we’d never joke about someone honoring a fallen 9/11 hero in such a personal way — but couples with multiple relationship tattoos?
We’ll make fun of that sh-t all day.