“Saturday Night Live” star Pete Davidson is speaking out in response to Chevy Chase’s diss on the current cast earlier this week.
“He’s a f—ing douchebag,” Davidson said on Howard Stern’s SiriusXM show Monday. “F— Chevy Chase. I hate that dude. He’s just a genuinely bad, racist person and I don’t like him. F— him. He’s a putz. I don’t like him.”
“What has he done since ’83? Like, nothing,” the comedian continued. “He had a really big career and then it stopped because everybody realized he’s a jerkoff… He should know more than anybody. It’s just like disrespectful to Lorne, too, a guy who gave you a career. No matter how big you get, you can’t forget like, what that guy did for you.”
Davidson’s comments about Chase are noticeably edited out of the satellite-radio show’s featured playback version of the interview, which has about three minutes missing from the 90-minute-plus interview. Subscribers can currently find the full version underneath that one and in the “Latest Audio” section.
When initially asked why the main replay would be missing what feels like just the one part of Stern and Davidson’s conversation that garnered much media attention, one person with knowledge of the show’s inner-workings told TheWrap that a publicist probably requested it be removed. Davidson’s “SNL” publicist said they did not, and an insider at SiriusXM told TheWrap that nobody made that request, and offered that some sections of interviews are often edited out of the video versions.
Requests for comment on the edit to Davidson’s manager and lawyer went unreturned. His agent directed us to speak to “Saturday Night Live.” Chase’s publicist said she had no knowledge of the edit.
Earlier this week, Chase had some negative things to say about the current cast of “SNL.”
“I don’t want to put down Lorne [Michaels] or the cast, but I’ll just say, maybe off the record, I’m amazed that Lorne has gone so low. I had to watch a little of it, and I just couldn’t f–ing believe it,” Chase told the Washington Post during a lengthy interview. The reporter noted that he was very much on the record here. “That means a whole generation of sh–heads laughs at the worst f–ing humor in the world,” he said. “You know what I mean? How could you dare give that generation worse sh– than they already have in their lives? It just drives me nuts.”
“I’d have to say, that after the first two years, it went downhill,” Chase continued. “Why am I saying that? Because I was in it? I guess. That’s a horrible thing to say. But certainly I never had more fun. I really loved it and enjoyed it. I didn’t see the same fun thing happening to the cast the next year.”
He described Will Ferrell, one of the most famous former castmembers, as “just not funny.” Tina Fey? “”I liked Tina. I didn’t see what all the folderol was about. She was good.” On Kristen Wiig, he said: “I liked her a lot. She had two things going for her. She had clear-cut chops, and she was pretty, too. But what happened to her? Where did she go?”
OK, but Chase had to like Eddie Murphy right? He kept the show alive during the early 1980s Dick Ebersol-led years. “I thought Eddie Murphy was funny. Gumby. I found that funny and people loved that. . . . Stevie Wonder, he did well,” he said. “It’s not that hard, for Christ’s sake. Your skin’s the same color. You just put on some sunglasses and do this.”
Chase is one of the seven original castmembers for “SNL,” though he left shortly after the start of the second season, being replaced by Bill Murray. Since leaving, Chase has had a rocky relationship with the show, having not hosted since 1997. His last appearance on the show came during the 40th anniversary special in 2015.
He said Lorne Michaels has rebuffed his efforts to host again, and it clearly stings. “It’s like denying that I was the guy who made this show really go that first year,” he said. “It’s like taking all that away from me.”
“Saturday Night Live” returns for its 44th Season on NBC on Sept. 29 with host Adam Driver and musical guest Kanye West.
Tony Maglio contributed to this report.