Maybe Pete Davidson just isn’t meant to be on social media. After a years-long hiatus, the SNL star recently returned to Instagram, but he only made it through a single post before ditching his account. What made Pete Davidson peace out? No one knows for sure beyond the celeb himself, but Kanye West had no problem stealing the glory.
Pete Davidson deleted his Instagram account a little over a week after creating it in the first place, with his lone movie-promoting post no longer available. His self-proclaimed nemesis Kanye West quickly took credit for the exit with an Instagram post screengrab of the "User Not Found" message shown when searching for Davidson's profile. His caption read:
Ran Skete off the gram. Tell your mother I changed your name for life.
Davidson's now-defunct account had racked up millions of followers in just a few days, and his long post hinted at more new content on the way, including teasers for his new horror film The Home. That optimistic forethought is part of why it was so surprising for fans to discover that the comedian had quietly left the platform on Wednesday.
Pete Davidson hasn’t offered an explanation for his exodus, though Kanye West could be one reason, if not the reason. He had been coming for Pete on social media ever since the SNL star started dating Ye’s estranged wife Kim Kardashian. Kanye had even encouraged his fans to yell at “Skete” if they ever saw him in public, leading to a frightened message from Kardashian asking him to stop out of fear of threats to Davidson’s safety. Kanye West’s inflammatory posts on Instagram even caused Kim K to unfollow her soon-to-be ex-husband.
However, Kanye West might not be to blame, regardless of whether or not Pete Davidson had previously changed his profile to include a video clip that many considered to be a slight to Kanye. Page Six reported that a source “close to the Saturday Night Live player” stated that when Pete Davidson began to receive an overabundance of negative messages that “reminded” him why he left social media in the first place, that's when he decided to vacate. These comments purportedly had nothing to do with Ye himself, even if a whole lot of the negativity came from Ye's fans.
Whether Kanye West was the perpetrator of Davidson’s social media cleanse or not, he's remained steadfast in his attempts to undermine the Staten Islander. A track from the rapper's latest musical drop, Donda 2, featured lyrics that alluded to putting someone’s “security at risk,” which many fans interpreted as a warning for Pete Davidson. It wouldn’t be the first time West took shots at Pete in song form - a previous track threatened to “beat Pete Davidson's ass.”
When it all comes down to it, only Pete Davidson (and maybe Kim Kardashian) really knows why the comedian bowed out from Instagram. Hopefully, the actor is doing just fine and simply wanted to focus on his blossoming career and being an uncle to John Mulaney and Olivia Munn’s adorable baby.
