Kanye West vs. Pete Davidson

About

Kanye West vs. Pete Davidson refers to a beef and drama between rapper Kanye "Ye" West and Saturday Night Live cast member and comedian Pete Davidson that started as early as late 2018. The conflict came to a head, however, in late 2021 after Davidson started dating Kanye's ex-wife Kim Kardashian. Kanye and Davidson memes related to their feud appeared in abundance going into early 2022 across platforms like Twitter. In March 2022, Kanye's "Eazy" music video was released that featured him kidnapping, decapitating and burying Pete Davidson. After Pete Davidson and Kim Kardashian broke up in August 2022, Kanye shared an Instagram post claiming "Skete Davidson Dead at 28" in a photoshopped newspaper headline.

Origin

Pete Davidson's MAGA Hat Weekend Update Segment

Early in the morning of October 7th, 2018, Pete Davidson appeared on the "Weekend Update" segment of Saturaday Night Live where he relayed a story about Kanye's recent musical hosting of the show. According to Davidson, post-show, Kanye addressed the audience wearing a MAGA hat, going out of his way to promote Donald Trump and insisting that this is him "off the meds." Davidson finished the segment by wearing a hat that read, "Make Kanye 2006 Again." This instance is the first time the two clashed publicly.

The clip was uploaded to YouTube on the same day, where over the course of three and a half years, it received roughly 8.3 million views (shown below).

Highlights

Pete Davidson, Kanye West, Kid Cudi and Timothee Chalamet Have Dinner

After the "Weekend Update" segment, there wasn't a statement from Kanye, instead, the whole event was largely forgotten. It resurfaced in discourse a couple of months later on January 31st, 2019, when Kim Kardashian tweeted^[1] multiple photos of Kanye, Davidson and actor Timothée Chalamet having dinner with rapper Kid Cudi to celebrate his birthday. The tweet (shown below) received roughly 85,700 likes over the course of three years.

A couple of months later on April 19th, Davidson appeared on The Tonight Show with host Jimmy Fallon. During the segment, he revisited the photographs of him at Cudi's party and told Fallon about the night. The main, comedic throughline of the story was how Kanye ordered a lot of expensive food at the restaurant while Davidson got stuck paying for the bill. Davidson reiterated at the end of the story, however, that Kim and Kanye were the "cutest couple ever" and "very, very sweet people." The clip was posted to YouTube on April 19th, where it received roughly 10.5 million views over the course of three years (shown below).

Pete Davidson Dating Kim Kardashian

On October 30th, 2021, Pete Davidson was spotted holding hands with Kim Kardashian who had recently split from Kanye in a public divorce. People Magazine^[2] originally published the water park photographs, but they went viral on Twitter after Twitter^[3] account davidsonupdate posted the photos on the same day, receiving roughly 28,500 likes for the tweet over the course of three months (shown below).

Immediately, Twitter users started to hypothesize about Kanye's emotions regarding the photographs. A notable tweet was posted by Twitter^[4] user SteveFlosstin, who referenced Kid Cudi's birthday dinner, captioning one of the photos from that evening with, "Next Kanye album about to be amazing." The tweet (shown below, left) received roughly 2,400 likes, also over three months. Twitter^[5] user _carrrmen replied to SteveFlosstin, saying, "pete’s finally getting back at kanye for sticking him with the bill that night," earning roughly 2,600 likes (shown below, right).

The story developed further after more pictures of Davidson and Kardashian surfaced in November 2021. On November 18th, 2021, it was reported by news outlets like Daily Mail^[6] that Pete Davidson and Kim Kardashian were officially together. Twitter^[7] account saint reposted the images, receiving roughly 8,900 likes over the course of three days.

Twitter users reacted to the news within the tweet's replies, referencing Kanye's feelings about the situation. For instance, Twitter^[8] user eric_anthony51 replied about Davidson provocatively wearing Yeezys in the photos, earning roughly 10,000 likes for the reply over the course of four days (shown below, left). On November 19th, Twitter^[9] user @DahliaZahava stated, "This pic alone bout to make Kanye lock himself in his room doing five beats a day for three summers," earning roughly 65,800 likes for the tweet over the course of three days (shown below, right).

Kanye West Dating Julia Fox

In January 2022, Kanye started dating actress Julia Fox, known for her role in the movie Uncut Gems. The two were spotted at Paris Fashion week together, inspiring multiple Kanye West and Julia Fox memes. Their appearance and newfound romance also inspired mentionings of Davidson. For instance, Twitter^[10] user ang5elina posted a tweet on January 23rd that received roughly 15,700 likes in eight days (shown below, left). Twitter^[11] user isthe__goodhere posted a tweet on January 16th that received roughly 1,800 likes over the course of 15 days (shown below, right).

Kanye West Pete Davidson Diss Track

On January 15th, 2022, Kanye and fellow rapper The Game released a song called "Eazy," posting it to YouTube and receiving roughly 521,000 views in 16 days (shown below). At the 2:33 mark in the song, Kanye raps the lyrics, "God saved me from that crash just so I can beat Pete Davidson's ass (Who?)"

Three days later, on January 18th, 2022, Twitter^[12] account RapUp announced that Davidson had reportedly hired increased security in regards to Kanye's threat. The tweet (shown below, left) received roughly 8,400 likes over 13 days. Twitter^[13] user shitshowdotinfo quote tweeted the article saying, "knaye west job creator," earning roughly 387,600 likes over the course of 13 days (shown below, right).

Kanye Telling People Pete Davidson Has AIDS

On January 28th, 2022, it was reported by TMZ^[14] that Kanye had been going around telling people that "Pete Davidson has AIDS." Radio host DJ Akademiks originally broke the story, and memes quickly surfaced on Twitter about what other false allegations Kanye was spreading. For instance, Twitter^[15] user ItsZaeOk posted a tweet on the 28th that received roughly 22,100 likes in three days (shown below, left). Twitter^[16] user whatgreenlight posted a tweet that received roughly 1,100 likes over three days (shown below, right).

Kanye's 'Civil War' Meme

On February 13th, 2022, Kanye West posted a Captain America: Civil War poster parody showing himself and his crew of Drake, Julia Fox, Travis Scott and Future squaring off against Pete Davidson and his crew of Kim Kardashian, Kid Cudi, Billie Eilish and Taylor Swift.

The poster, along with other posts from the weekend, led many to joke about West's woes and feel pity for the rapper for being publically petty in the face of his divorce from Kim Kardashian.

Kanye "Eazy" Music Video

On March 3rd, 2022, Kanye West and fellow rapper The Game released the music video for their song titled "Eazy," which was originally leaked in January and stirred controversy regarding a lyric that mentioned beating up Pete Davidson. Roughly two months later, the official music video was uploaded to YouTube by the channel The 100 Show, receiving roughly 529,000 views in less than 24 hours (shown below).

The video featured black-and-white claymation animation of Kanye and The Game riding ATVs, motorcycles and rapping while sitting on top of a coffin. At the 1:25 timestamp, a claymation figure is revealed that is a depiction of Pete Davidson. Kanye takes a bag off his head as if he'd kidnapped him. Kanye, in the video, then ties Pete Davidson to the back of a vehicle and drives him out to a place where he decapitates him and buries him, subsequently killing Pete Davidson in the video.

The video caused controversy online, mostly centering on the well-being of Pete in the midst of Kanye's jealousy. Many users on platforms like Twitter were concerned that Kanye's actions could result in Davidson getting attacked or hurt in real life. For instance, Twitter^[17] user StephBauerTV posted a Facebook post style image that condemned Kanye's actions, referencing Kim Kardashian and deeming the whole situation "not funny at all." The tweet (shown below, left) earned roughly 6,200 likes in less than one day. Twitter^[18] user ctv_mack posted a tweet with a similar sentiment, stating, "Im not lying to you, if I was Pete Davidson, Id want to throw hands. This obsession is beyond OD weird at this point," earning roughly 6,900 likes in the same amount of time (shown below, right).

Meme creators started to reference the drama more humorously, like Twitter^[19] user lmauricecpr who tweeted, "Pete Davidson is a much better man than me. I'd be sending Kanye our sex tape at this point," earning 3,300 in less than 24 hours (shown below, left). A non-ironic infographic about Kanye's abuse of Pete Davidson was also posted on the 3rd by the Twitter^[20] account VeraHouseInc which stirred some controversy (shown below, right). For instance, Twitter^[21] user inspirationbygk quote retweeted it and ironically stated, "We told you about Kanye West disturbing actions toward his ex Kim K. Now a buried alive video featuring Pete Davidson. We can’t be silent or silenced. We need men to speak up too! and Say No More!," earning roughly 1,100 likes in less than 24 hours.

Leaked Kanye West And Pete Davidson Text Messages

On March 13th, 2022, an iMessage conversation between Kanye West and Pete Davidson was leaked by Saturday Night Live writer Dave Sirus to his Instagram.^[22] However, Sirus soon deleted the posts and went private. Regardless, they were reposted to Twitter^[23] by RapTV on the 13th, who earned roughly 72,900 likes in less than 24 hours (screenshots shown below).

As the news circulated social media, memes were made about the texts, many relating to Kanye telling Davidson to go to Sunday Sevice and Davidson's selfie in bed with Kim Kardashian.

Kanye's "Skete Davidson Dead" Instagram Post

On August 5th, 2022, Davidson and Kardashian broke up after nine months of dating, first being reported on by E! News.^[23] Many creators imagined what Kanye's response to the breakup would be, however, Kanye didn't officially say anything until August 8th, 2022, when he posted on Instagram^[24] a photoshopped newspaper headline that read, "Skete Davidson Dead at 28." The post received roughly 1.7 million likes in three hours (shown below).

Search Interest

External References