Pete Davidson made his return to “Saturday Night Live’s” Weekend Update segment this week, using humor to deflect criticism over his controversial appearance at Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh Comedy Festival.
The comedian, whose father died in the 9/11 attacks, faced intense backlash after performing in the kingdom and reportedly being in the vicinity when fellow comedian Russell Peters met with one of Osama bin Laden’s brothers backstage.
Rather than directly addressing the controversy, Davidson chose to joke about his financial motivations during the SNL appearance.
“In case you’re wondering why I had to do a show in Saudi Arabia, we’re losing millions on this ferry,” he quipped, referring to the struggling Staten Island Ferry venture he co-owns with Colin Jost. The self-deprecating deflection attempted to reframe the Saudi appearance as a desperate money-making move rather than a controversial career decision.
The backlash to Davidson’s Saudi performance has been severe. Social media users branded him a “sellout” for accepting what they called “Saudi blood money.”
Additionally, many expressed particular outrage given that his firefighter father perished in the September 11 attacks, which were orchestrated by Osama bin Laden and carried out primarily by Saudi nationals.
During the Weekend Update segment, Davidson made another jarring joke about his late father, telling Jost, “I understand RFK. You know, I wouldn’t be famous without my dad dying, either. Thank God that happened. Wouldn’t trade it.”
The comedian also made a pointed reference to the Epstein list controversy, joking about how “everyone was sure certain people would be exposed and ruined for being on the Epstein list, right? But look. It’s 2025. And all three of us are still up here.” The remark seemed to acknowledge ongoing controversies while simultaneously brushing them aside.
By framing the decision as purely financial desperation tied to the ferry venture, Pete Davidson attempted to provide context without offering a genuine apology or reckoning with the deeper implications of performing for the Saudi government given his personal history with terrorism.