Pete Davidson took the stage at the 30th Annual Webby Awards on Monday night and accepted a Special Achievement Award for his impact on comedy, then punctured the moment with one line: “Thanks, I’m still dead inside.” The ceremony was held at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City, and Machine Gun Kelly introduced him before Davidson took the microphone.
The appearance came as Davidson remains in the middle of a very public stretch of life that has included a new baby, relationship rumors and renewed scrutiny of his comedy. He and Elsie Hewitt are parents to a five-month-old daughter, Scottie Rose, whom they welcomed in December, and Davidson recently described fatherhood in an interview with PEOPLE as “f-cking awesome,” calling Hewitt “a fantastic mom.”
That upbeat portrait has been complicated by reports that the couple is dealing with strain. Earlier this month, a source told PEOPLE, “There are issues, but they’re trying to figure things out together.” Another source told the Daily Mail, “Not one of Pete’s friends is surprised that there are relationship issues with him and Elsie,” adding, “She was also warned well ahead of time in their relationship to be careful with him, because Pete loves to self-sabotage a good thing.” The same source said the pregnancy was unplanned and changed the dynamic of the relationship, and added, “They are not fully broken up, but it is absolutely leading to it.”
Hewitt added to the timing on the eve of the Webby Awards, posting a Mother’s Day message that said, “We’re all here because of a mother’s sacrifice to make herself your first home. i got to be Scottie’s,” followed by, “Greatest honor of my life. happy mother’s day.”
Davidson’s joke at the Webby Awards also landed against the backdrop of criticism over material he used during “The Roast of Kevin Hart.” Machine Gun Kelly said Davidson would not censor himself when they spoke ahead of the show, recalling that Davidson shared jokes for the roast and never asked whether they were too far. Kelly said he did not ask, either, and that was part of what stood out to him.
The personal and professional threads around Davidson have never really stayed separate for long, and that is true again here. He has spent years turning pain, self-mockery and publicity into material, but this time the target audience included a room full of peers, a new baby at home and a relationship people around him say is still unresolved. For now, the Webbys offered a polished stage and a blunt punch line; the harder question is whether the life offstage is stabilizing at all.
