Davidson promises free show after ditching local gig

BRIDGEPORT — Stress Factory comedy club owner Vinnie Brand said he was caught by surprise when comic Pete Davidson left before his Monday night show.

Davidson claimed Brand made jokes about his love life, which Brand wholeheartedly denied.

Media reports began surfacing Tuesday that 25-year-old Davidson, a stand-up comic and “Saturday Night Live” cast member, left the show, alleging Brand came out before his set and said “don’t ask any questions about his exes Ariana Grande or Kate Beckinsale.”

Brand said he was blindsided by Davidson’s departure. He said he never intended the comments as a joke — he was just setting some ground rules per the request of his performer.

Brand said Davidson had a specific list of rules that he wanted followed, including that no one have cellphones out during his performance and that no one yell out anything about Davidson’s exes. Brand said he was happy to oblige.

“I’ve known Pete for a long time,” Brand said. “I love Pete. I don’t want any of this to come off like I don’t love Pete.”

Brand said his only intent was to reiterate the rules with patrons before Davidson hit the stage. He said he even cleared his comments with Davidson’s security team before going on.

“I was just laying down the rules,” he said. “If you were there in the room that night, no way would you have thought anything I did was disrespectful.”

However, after his talk, Brand went back to Davidson, who told Brand he had been “humiliated” by the comments, and that he was leaving. Brand said he begged Davidson not to leave and that the walkout could hurt the club. Davidson left anyway, and Brand had to go out and break the news.

Brand then performed a stand-up routine in Davidson’s spot.

Davidson took to social media after leaving the Bridgeport comedy club Monday night and briefly talked about what happened in a series of videos posted on his Instagram story.

“Hey, guys, in Connecticut,” the video begins, “I’m sorry that we had to leave the show before I got to go on. The owner, Vinnie Brand, disrespected me and did something that I told him not to do and I can’t, you know, perform under those circumstances.”

“Everybody who got tickets to that show: I am doing a free show for you guys,” Davidson goes on to say in the video. He said the details of that show are still being worked out, but that it would happen “in the next week.”

Brand seemed shaken by the incident during a phone interview Tuesday, calling it “deeply hurtful.”

“I just can’t wrap my mind around what happened,” he said.

For the most part, fans of Stress Factory seem to have taken Brand’s side, particularly on the Stress Factory Facebook page. Under a post announcing that Davidson would be performing, disappointed fans complained about the fact that he never took the stage.

“Was in attendance last night and Pete never performed but I’ll tell you what Vinnie put on one hell of a good show!” wrote one poster.

Davidson