Kanye West’s love-hate relationship with Saturday Night Live got even more complicated after his ex-wife, Kim Kardashian, started dating cast member Pete Davidson in 2021. “Fuck SNL and the whole cast, tell ‘em Yeezy said they can kiss my whole ass,” Ye rapped in 2010’s “Power.” While Davidson wasn’t on the show at the time, Kardashian started seeing the comedian after she hosted SNL in October—so those lyrics might be more relevant now than ever for the music superstar. More than a year after filing for divorce from the Yeezy designer, the beauty mogul is seemingly enjoying her budding relationship with the King of Staten Island star. She has also been dodging her ex-husband’s multiple attempts to get her back, so naturally, Davidson has become Ye’s latest target.
West married Kardashian in a lavish ceremony at Fort di Belvedere in Florence in May 2014. They seemed like the perfect match at first, but after nearly 10 years together and four kids later, cracks started to show in their marriage. The pair separated and she filed for divorce in February 2021. The divorce appeared to be amicable at first but it seems like Kardashian’s new relationship caused tension between her and her ex. There’s no telling how far her relationship with the I Want You Back star will go, but it doesn’t look like the “Moon” rapper is ready to let this one-sided beef go. West has been linked to multiple women in the past year, including Julia Fox, but that hasn’t stopped him from targeting Kardashian’s new man on social media and through his music.
There’s plenty of discourse regarding West’s behavior toward his ex and her new partner, with some saying it is borderline abusive and toxic. While the Instagram posts, the song lyrics, and videos might seem as just entertainment for others, they could result in real-life dangerous situations for the people involved. Perhaps this turmoil will fizzle out once the KimYe divorce is finalized. Until then, we’ve compiled a timeline of everything that has happened between West and Davidson so far. While the rapper has deleted most of his Instagram posts aimed at the SNL star, we’ve scoured the web to find as many of them as possible with the help of some dedicated fan pages. We have a feeling it’s not ending any time soon, so check back for updates as this story develops.
Pete Davidson made fun of Kanye on ‘SNL’
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Date: Oct. 6, 2018
There was tension between West and Davidson way before he started dating the beauty mogul in 2021. After Ariana Grande canceled a planned appearance for SNL’s season premiere on Sept. 29, 2018, producer Lorne Michaels called on West to replace her. The rapper performed three songs including “I Love It” and “We Got Love.” He ended the show performing “Ghost Town,” while wearing a controversial red Make America Great Again hat. After he finished his final song, he went on a rant that wasn’t aired on TV. People shared backstage videos that showed the fashion designer expressing his support for Donald Trump, his stance against Democrats, and addressing jokes about him being in the “Sunken Place.” He also referred to the red MAGA hat as his “superhero cape.” The SNL cast, Kid Cudi, and others stood behind him awkwardly as the crowd fell silent during the speech, and fans criticized the rapper online after the show.
The following week, Davidson appeared on SNL’s “Weekend Update” and addressed the rapper’s unaired pro-Trump speech, calling it, “the worst, most awkward thing I’ve ever seen here.” During the rant, the rapper said people backstage told him not to wear the red hat. “I wish I bullied you. I wish I would’ve suggested that it might upset some people like your wife or every Black person ever,” the actor said. Davidson also talked about Ye saying he wasn’t on medication for his mental illness anymore. “Take them! There’s no shame in the medicine game. I’m on them, it’s great,” Davidson said, adding: “Being mentally ill is not an excuse to act like a jackass.” SNL is also not without fault in this situation, though. Everyone was well aware of the type of energy the rapper was on at the time, and they still gave him a platform. Similarly, they invited former president Donald Trump to do another stint as a host in 2015 when he was a presidential candidate. But sometimes for networks, the ratings do justify the means.
Date: January 31, 2019
Kid Cudi has been friends with both Davidson and West for years, so it wasn’t surprising when Kardashian tweeted photos from the “Pursuit Of Happiness” rapper’s birthday dinner at Nobu in January 2019, and her then-husband and now boyfriend were both in attendance. It’s unclear if West missed the SNL segment the comedian did about him or if he put that aside to celebrate his longtime friend, but the dinner seemed to have gone on without a hitch.
Davidson talked about the dinner during an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in April 2019. He said how he gave the server his card to cover the bill beforehand, but more people like Timothée Chalamet, West, and Kardashian joined in and things got more expensive, with Ye ordering food “that’s not even on the menu.” Davidson made it clear that even if the dinner ended up being pricier than he planned, he enjoyed spending time with the impromptu guests. “By the way, I just want to say, Kim and Kanye, the cutest couple ever,” he shared at the time. “Very, very sweet people. I had a really good time with them.”
Kim kissed Pete on ‘SNL’
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Date: October 9, 2021
There was a lot of back and forth about whether or not KimYe would be reconciling after she attended some of his Donda album’s listening events in 2021. They were also spotted together in New York City the week she hosted Saturday Night Live for the first time. As a recurring guest on the show, West was there to show support and Kardashian even talked about him during her monologue, calling him the “best rapper of all time.” Kardashian also acted in a skit alongside Davidson where they played Princess Jasmine and Aladdin, and they kissed on the lips. It wasn’t long before the pair were spotted together holding hands at an amusement park on Halloween weekend, and rumors began circulating that they were dating. It was confirmed that they were official in November.
In an interview with Hollywood Unlocked, which aired in January, the rapper mentioned being there to witness when it all went down. “This is for anybody that’s going through a separation. People intentionally do things to be mean and to hurt you and they be playing games, and culturally it’s OK. How are you gonna bring me to SNL and kiss the dude you dating right in front of me?” Ye said, referring to the skit.
Date: Jan. 14
Ye dropped his song, “Eazy,” with The Game in January, and it included a lyric about his ex-wife’s new beau. “God saved me from that crash / Just so I can beat Pete Davidson’s ass (Who?),” he raps on the track. When the song leaked, Radar Online reported that the comedian allegedly hired extra security amid the threats. “Pete isn’t worried about Kanye, but he is concerned about the massive fanbase that Kanye has. His devoted followers listen to his songs and act upon them. That’s why Pete is now using security,” an insider reportedly told the publication.
Kanye mentions ‘SNL’ in “City of Gods”
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Date: Feb. 11
Davidson has already inspired quite a few song lyrics in his time as a celebrity. His ex-fiance Ariana Grande has mentioned him in more than one of her songs, and Ye inserted his beef with Davidson into yet another track. Fivio Foreign dropped his single “City of Gods,” featuring Ye and Alicia Keys on Feb. 11, and he seemingly referenced hurting the comedian at his workplace in his verse. “This afternoon, a hundred goons pullin’ up to SNL, when I pull up, it’s dead on arrival,” Ye rapped.
Date: Feb. 12
It wasn’t long before Cudi’s longtime friendship with Davidson became an issue for West. The rapper shared a handwritten note to his Instagram account on Feb. 12, saying: “Just so everyone knows Cudi will not be on Donda because he’s friends with you know who.” Cudi fired back commenting: “Too bad I don’t want to be on your album you fuckin’ dinosaur hahaha everyone knows I’ve been the best thing about your albums since I met you.” Ye also shared a photo of himself with Cudi and Davidson from the 2019 dinner, crossing the Big Time Adolescence actor out by drawing a giant red “X” over him. He captioned the post, “I JUST WANTED MY FRIEND TO HAVE MY BACK THE KNIFE JUST GOES IN DEEPER.”
Date: Feb. 13
In the spirit of keeping the whole world involved in their drama, the music mogul shared a text message he allegedly received from his ex’s new boyfriend regarding their kids. Davidson’s text to Ye reportedly read: “And you as a man. I’d never get in the way of your children. It’s a promise. How you guys go about raising your children is your business not mine. I do hope one I day I can meet them and we can all be friends.” Ye’s caption to the now-deleted post read: “No, you will never meet my children.”
Date: Feb. 13
Amid his back and forth with Kid Cudi, Ye shared an edited remake of Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War movie poster. The poster placed Drake, Julia Fox, Travis Scott, and Future on Ye’s side fighting against Davidson, Kardashian, Cudi, Billie Eilish, and Taylor Swift. He captioned this photo, “THE INTERNET HAS STILL NOT FOUND A DECENT PICTURE OF SKETE.” The post birthed an insulting new nickname for his enemy while also delivering one of the most ridiculous memes to ever hit the internet.
Date: Feb. 13
During his Donda 2 album rollout, Ye shared a screenshot of a tweet that claimed that when Davidson was engaged to Grande, he “sent intimate photos with Ariana” to her ex, the late Mac Miller. The singer’s big brother, Frankie Grande, was asked about it the following day. “I mean, listen, I’ve never heard of that in my life,” he told TMZ. “But listen, Kanye loves to stir the pot so nothing that he says ever surprises me at all. I wish nothing but the best to him, to his family, to Pete, and to everyone involved. Especially on today, which is Valentine’s Day, which is such a good day to spread love.”
Date: Feb. 13
Ye posted a paparazzi photo of Kardashian and Davidson holding hands as they walked to their pre-Valentine’s Day date at an Italian restaurant in Brooklyn called Lilia. West cropped the image so that it only shows the comedian’s outfit. “Look at this dickhead,” Kanye wrote. “I wonder if Instagram gonna shut down my page for dissing Hilary Clinton’s ex-boyfriend.” West was referencing Davidson being a longtime Clinton fan, and also shared a photo of the tattoo the comedian has of the politician on his arm. Ye continued his posts on Instagram that day, which made him trend on social media. “I didn’t wake up and fight for my family to trend over the Super Bowl, but it happened,” Ye wrote. “The Super Bowl brings families together. For everyone married, hold your spouse close. Make sure they know how much you love and appreciate them, because there’s a Skete lurking in every dirty ass alley waiting to help destroy your family and walk around in Calvin Kleins around your children.”
“I wish my wife was with me and our children sitting at the 50-yard line,” he added. “@kimkardashian always remember West was your biggest W.” He also shared a series of screenshots from people who were commenting on his page to keep fighting to win her back, and told his followers: “IF YOU SEE SKETE IN REAL LIFE SCREAM AT [THE] LOOSER AT THE TOP OF YOUR LUNGS AND SAY KIMYE FOREVER.”
Date: Feb. 14
West took to Instagram to ask that his fans not “do anything physical” to the actor after Kardashian reached out to him. “UPON MY WIFE’S REQUEST PLEASE NOBODY DO ANYTHING PHYSICAL TO SKETE IM GOING TO HANDLE THE SITUATION MYSELF,” he wrote in a post, with a screengrab from Baby Boy where Tyrese Gibson’s character Jody gets into an altercation with his mother’s boyfriend Melvin (Ving Rhames), who puts him in a headlock. West also shared a text he received from Kim, who allegedly wrote: “U are creating a dangerous and scary environment and someone will hurt Pete and this will all be your fault.”
“There are dangerous people out there and this is scary and it doesn’t have to be,” she added in another portion of their alleged text exchange. “I will always do everything to protect you and our family forever,” he responded. “And I listened to you and told everyone to make sure nothing physical happens to Skete.” The KKW Beauty founder also asked the “Hurricane” rapper to stop sharing their conversations publicly. “Why can’t you keep any of our conversations private???” she texted. He responded saying: “Cause I got a text from my favorite person in the world.” He continued, “I’m your number one fan. Why wouldn’t I tell everyone!!!!” He later shared a follow-up statement taking “accountability” for sharing the screenshots, saying it came off as “jarring” and as if he was “harassing Kim.”
Date: Feb. 17
Anything that hits the internet lives on forever. It seems like West caught wind of a resurfaced clip from Davidson’s 2018 “Weekend Update” segment where he talked about the rapper and his mental health. “Hi Skete, you got any more mental health jokes for me?” the rapper captioned a post. He also shared clips from the skit writing: “This boy thought he could get away with performing this sketch for the team that wrote this for him. This is not harassment. This is payback.” He added in a separate post: “Page Six, TMZ, SNL are a gang. That gang has tried to bully harass control discredit minimize and patronize me for years.” He also offered to double Michael Che’s salary to leave his job as a cast member on the NBC show.
Date: Feb. 23
Just a week after he reactivated his Instagram account for the first time in years, Davidson said goodbye to the social media app again on Feb. 23. His account @pmd is no longer active, and the deletion comes after West’s fans flooded his post with negative comments, including ones calling him “Skete.” The rapper saw this as a personal victory and celebrated with a post on his account. “Ran Skete off the gram,” West captioned a post with a screenshot of Davidson’s deactivated account. “Tell your mother I changed your name for life.” The comedian previously left the platform for a similar reason and said that the bullying from people was affecting his mental health. “I’m doing my best to stay here for you but I actually don’t know how much longer I can last,” the comedian wrote in a troubling post at the time.
Kanye’s graphic “EAZY” video raises concern, James Gunn speaks out
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Date: March 3
For any Ye and Davidson fan, the past few months have been stressful, to say the least. While Ye’s posts were somewhat fun at first for some, the latest music video for “EAZY” has made this beef a little less entertaining, and honestly, a bit concerning. In the video, there’s an animated clay version of the comedian that West kidnapped, tied up, decapitated, and buried it alive. Davidson has yet to react to the clip, but plenty of people are expressing concern about the graphic and somewhat threatening images the rapper chose to depict in the visual. The music video ends by making one final remark about Davidson. The clip concludes with text that reads: “EVERYONE LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER / EXCEPT SKETE YOU KNOW WHO / JK HE’S FINE.”
The day the visual was released, James Gunn, who directed Davidson in The Suicide Squad, posted a tweet praising the actor. “For the record, Pete Davidson is one of the nicest, sweetest guys I know. A truly generous, tender & funny spirit, he treats everyone around him with respect,” he wrote. Kardashian cosigned the director’s message, giving it a “like” on Twitter. Later that week, West appeared to respond to the video’s criticism with a statement. “Art is therapy just like this view, art is protected as freedom of speech, art inspires and simplifies the world,” he wrote on Instagram. “Art is not a proxy for any ill or harm. Any suggestion otherwise about my art is false and mal intended.”
Date: Mar. 13
Things got progressively worse between the music mogul and Davidson. The actor’s friend and his King of Staten Island co-writer Dave Sirus shared screenshots of an alleged exchange between Ye and the comedian. In the now-deleted texts, Davidson said he is no longer going to be silent about the way West has been publicly handling the separation. “Can you please take a second and calm down. It’s 8am and it don’t gotta be like this. Kim is literally the best mother I’ve ever met,” Davidson continued. “What she does for those kids is amazing and you are so fucking lucky that she’s your kids mom. I’ve decided I’m not gonna let you treat us this way anymore and I’m done being quiet. Grow the fuck up.” He added: “What you are doing to your family is dangerous and going to scar them for life. Please handle these matters privately bro I beg you.” During the exchange, West reportedly asked where the actor was and he allegedly responded by sending before sharing a shirtless selfie with a text that read “in bed with your wife.” Davidson also offered the rapper help with his mental health struggles and offered to meet in person one on one. In exchange, West invited the comedian to Sunday Service, but it’s unclear if they met up. Page Six later reported that the texts were “real.”
West responded with a series of videos addressing the issues he is having with the mother of his four children, as well as his conversation with Davidson. “Her boyfriend is texting me pictures of him naked in bed, talking about, ‘I’m with your wife.’ I thought she wasn’t my wife. We went through a year and a half of divorce,” the rapper said. “I finally go the lawyer to hit the divorce and now why are you calling her my wife then? Unless you’re trying to gaslight. You’re being as a pawn and Kim is also.”
