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Pete Davidson is standing by his decision to perform at the Riyadh Comedy Festival in Saudi Arabia more than two decades after his father, New York City firefighter Scott Davidson, was killed in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Scott, who served with Ladder Company 118 in Brooklyn Heights, was 33 when he died responding to the World Trade Center. Pete was just 7 years old at the time.
The 31-year-old “Saturday Night Live” alum is one of 50 comedians in the lineup for the festival, which began Sept. 26 and runs through Oct. 9. The roster includes some of the biggest names in comedy — Dave Chappelle, Louis C.K., Jimmy Carr, Kevin Hart, Sebastian Maniscalco, Aziz Ansari, Andrew Schulz, Whitney Cummings and Hannibal Buress.
During a Sept. 23 appearance on Theo Von’s “This Past Weekend” podcast, Von asked Pete about the festival.
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Pete Davidson is facing criticism for performing at the Riyadh Comedy Festival in Saudi Arabia after his firefighter father, Scott Peterson, died in the 9/11 attacks. (Will Heath/NBC via Getty Images)
“There’s a lot of people that say people are getting paid by this Middle Eastern money right, you know, and that they can say this, or they can’t say that or that they are over there, they’re going to try to influence you guys in order to speak certain ways,” Von said. “Are you part of that conspiracy theory or is that nothing you’re on?”
“I’ve heard there’s subreddits of like, ‘I think all these people are in bed with that.’ I just, you know, I get the routing, and then I see the number, and I go, ‘I’ll go,'” Pete said. “I’ve been getting a little bit of flak just because my dad died (in) 9/11. So they’re like, ‘How could you possibly go there?'”
15 of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 were Saudi nationals, and lawsuits have alleged links between the Saudi government and the attackers. Saudi officials have denied involvement.
In a Sept. 23 press release, Human Rights Watch accused Saudi Arabia of hosting the festival to “deflect attention from its brutal repression of free speech and other pervasive human rights violations.”
Some comics have also condemned the festival, arguing Saudi Arabia is using the high-profile event to polish its global image despite alleged human rights abuses.
Pete admitted that he took the gig after seeing paycheck number. (Noam Galai/WireImage)
In a statement posted on his website, comedian and actor David Cross blasted his peers for taking part in the event, citing the host nation’s “crimes against humanity.”
He referenced the accusations that the Saudi government assisted 9/11 hijackers as well as Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman allegedly sanctioning the 2018 murder of journalist and dissident Jamal Khashoggi and the kingdom’s view of LGBTQ and women’s rights.
Cross wrote he was “disgusted and deeply disappointed in this whole gross thing,” accusing the participants of condoning “a totalitarian fiefdom for … what, a fourth house? A boat? More sneakers?”
During a recent episode of the “Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast,” comedian Shane Gillis revealed that he was offered a “significant” amount of money to perform at the event but declined the gig. He said that the festival’s organizers doubled their offer, but he once again turned them down.
“I took a principled stand,” Gillis said. “You don’t 9/11 your friends.”
Marc Maron, who has said that he was not invited to perform at the festival, also referred to 9/11 and Khashoggi’s murder while ripping the lineup’s stars during a stand-up set.
“I mean, how do you even promote that? Like, ‘From the folks that brought you 9/11, two weeks of laughter in the desert. Don’t miss it!'” he said.
Meanwhile, “Silicon Valley” star and comedian Zach Woods shared an Instagram video in which he mockingly promoted the event and referenced 9/11 while suggesting that comedians regularly “whore themselves out to dictators.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to Davidson’s representatives for comment.
He acknowledged that he was “getting a little bit of flak” for performing in Saudi Arabia due to the nationality of many of the 9/11 hijackers and the regime’s alleged links to the tragedy. (Robert Giroux/Getty Images)
Over the years, Pete has spoken out about how his father’s death in the 9/11 attacks has impacted him. He has also previously shared that he uses dark humor as a method of coping with his grief and moving forward.
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While speaking with the New York Times in 2015, Pete told the outlet that trauma from his father’s death led him to “rip his hair out until he was bald” while he was in school.
“It was overwhelming,” Pete said.
During a 2020 interview on “CBS Mornings,” Pete reflected on whether the experience of losing his father at such a young age had fundamentally changed him as a person.
“Oh, yeah, absolutely,” he said. “One of my best friends is forever gone.”
Pete has spoken out about how his father’s death impacted him. (ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)
In a 2023 appearance on Jon Bernthal’s podcast “Real Ones,” the comedian recalled that his mother Amy withheld the truth of his father’s death from him for several days and said that he first learned of Scott’s passing while watching the news.
“My dad told me he was going to pick me up on 9/11,” Pete said. “I got picked up by my mom. She didn’t tell me what was going on for like three days. She kept telling me dad’s at work, I had no idea. My mom’s like, ‘You’re just grounded, you’re not allowed to watch TV.’”
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“I was like, ‘What? I didn’t do anything.’ And then one night I turn on the TV and I saw my dad on TV. They’re like, ‘These are all the fireman who are dead.’”
While speaking with Bernthal, Davidson noted that Amy was only 30 at the time of Scott’s passing and praised her for how she had handled the aftermath of her husband’s death and raised him and his sister Casey.
“As I get older, I’m like, ‘Man, my mom was awesome,'” he said.
He credited his mother, Amy, with how she handled the aftermath of Scott’s death. (Rosalind O’Connor/Peacock via Getty Images)
Pete has previously said that he was drawn to comedy because it gave him a sense of escape and relief from grief. During his appearance on “Real Ones,” Pete reflected on why he has occasionally joked about his father and 9/11.
“I’m trying to share little jokes here and there about him because I like to keep that memory alive,” Pete said. “My dad was a great dude.”
Pete has shared tributes to Scott through the year and also honored his father through his work, most notably in the 2020 semi-autobiographical film “The King of Staten Island.”
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The coming-of-age story followed a young man dealing with the repercussions of losing his firefighter father when he was seven, and the struggles he had to confront head on to move forward with his own life.
“I think when you’re able to share a story like this at this magnitude and with so many people, it really allowed me to be as open and honest as I could be, and it helped me deal with a lot of my personal demons,” he told E! News in 2020.
Pete paid tribute to Scott in his movie “The King of Staten Island.” (Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)
On the morning of 9/11, Scott’s company Ladder 118 was dispatched from its firehouse in Brooklyn to respond to the crisis unfolding at the World Trade Center.
Scott’s crew crossed the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan — a trip captured in a now iconic photo showing the firetruck headed toward the burning towers.
The firefighters reported to the Marriott World Trade Center Hotel, located at the base of the North and South Towers, where they helped evacuate staff and guests.
When the North Tower collapsed at 10:28 a.m., the hotel was destroyed and all six firefighters of Ladder 118, including Scott, were killed inside.
During his appearance on “This Past Weekend,” Pete discussed the famous photo, which was first featured on the cover of the New York Daily News after the attacks in a tribute to the fallen firefighters of Ladder 118.
During his appearance on “This Past Weekend,” Pete discussed the famous photo, which was first featured on the cover of the New York Daily News after the attacks in a tribute to the fallen firefighters of Ladder 118. ( NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)
“They were the first truck over there….and pretty much the whole house died, which is pretty sad but at least he died with his pals,” Pete said.
The “Bupkis” star told Von that he remembered Scott for his good sense of humor, saying that his father was “f—— hilarious.”
“My memories are, you know, few and far between because I was seven but I just remember laughing a lot and him being pretty jacked and smoking a lot of cigarettes and driving a Subaru Impreza,” Pete said. “Always had a big smile on his face.”
Pete told Von that in the past, people have lied and said that they knew Scott so that they could visit him backstage at his comedy shows.
Pete said that in the past, people have lied and said that they knew Scott so that they could visit him backstage at his comedy shows. (FilmMagic/FilmMagic)
“I could always tell who is telling the truth because the second they start talking, they have this big smile and their eyes kind of light up and they call him ‘Scotty’ which is what his friends call him so I always could tell and everything I hear is always really sweet,” Pete said.
Pete also shared his thoughts on why he has always sought out friendships with people who are older than him.
“When you go through a tragedy that young, your brain is older,” he said. “I always felt like I was older in school.”
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“That innocence is kind of taken away really fast. And that’s why I got into stand-up,” he continued. “I think that’s why I veered towards laughing a lot. Because I’m a sad dude.”
