‘I’m upset I even have to say this’
Grande’s former squeeze details his experiences with online bullying
The internet has equalized many things between the famous and the normals, including how easily it is for hordes of people to harass you. Pete Davidson has been “bullied online and in public by people for 9 months,” the comedian wrote Monday on Instagram.
Davidson and pop singer Ariana Grande’s quick engagement became the object of pop culture fascination, so their breakup brought intense attention upon the Saturday Night Live cast member, including a storm of vitriolic comments.
Both of their camps telegraphed that there were no ill feelings between the two, but the scrutiny continued. Davidson has incorporated the breakup into his standup act, but on Monday, he took a serious tone in disclosing how the hostility is impacting his mental health.
“I’ve kept my mouth shut. Never mentioned any names, never said a word about anyone or anything,” Davidson wrote on Instagram. “I’m trying to understand how when something happens to a guy the whole entire world just trashes him without any facts or frame of reference. Especially in today ’s climate where everyone loves to be offended and upset it truly is mind boggling.”
Davidson, who in 2016 revealed he had been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, wrote that he’s spoken about the disorder and being suicidal “only in the hopes that it will help bring awareness and help kids like myself who don’t want to be on this earth.”
He continued: “I just want you guys to know. No matter how hard the internet or anyone tries to make me kill myself. I won’t. I’m upset I even have to say this. To all those holding me down and seeing this for what it is — I see you and I love you.”
Last week, Grande’s manager, Scooter Braun, hopped into the comments’ section on Davidson’s Instagram account, defending the comic from hateful messages.
“Pete is a good dude,” Braun wrote, as HuffPost reported. “No one has hate for this guy and he is a stand up guy. Show respect because trust me everyone on this side knows he deserves it and wishes him well.”
And Grande included an apology for Davidson in her music video for Thank U, Next, with a message reading, “sry I dipped” (meaning she’s sorry she ended the relationship).
The song itself has the lyric, “for Pete, I’m so thankful.”
Grande also defended her ex after his post with a message on Instagram.
“I feel the need to remind my fans to please be gentler with others,” the singer wrote, adding, “I will always have irrevocable love for him and if you’ve gotten any other impression from my recent work, you might have missed the point.”
Davidson is far from the only celebrity to directly address the online harassment they’ve received.
Fifth Harmony’s Normani Kordei, who is a black woman, left Twitter in 2016 after racist comments and “pictures so horrific and racially charged that I can’t subject myself any longer to the hate,” she explained.
One Direction’s Zayn Malik, who is Muslim, briefly left Twitter in 2012, citing the “useless opinions and hate I get daily.”
Selena Gomez has said she deletes Instagram “at least once a week,” telling The New York Times, “you fixate on the (negative comments). They’re not like, ‘You’re ugly.’ It’s like they want to cut to your soul. Imagine all the insecurities that you already feel about yourself and having someone write a paragraph pointing out every little thing — even if it’s just physical.”
Grande herself has been an ongoing target of harassment, especially after her long-term former boyfriend, Mac Miller, died in September from a mix of fentanyl, cocaine and alcohol.
Within hours of Miller’s death, his fans went after her, and the comments on her Instagram were turned off, The Cut reported.
These famous people aren’t living on other planets. They live on this one and, it turns out, they do read the comments.