Pete Davidson returned to “Saturday Night Live” over the weekend for a surprise appearance on “Weekend Update” with his friend, Colin Jost.
Jost kicked off the segment by updating the audience on his and Davidson’s joint project ― the retired Staten Island Ferry they purchased together back in 2022.
“The New York Times recently ran an article calling the Staten Island Ferry that I purchased with Pete Davidson a ‘money-losing fiasco,’” Jost said. “With more on this is Pete Davidson.”
The audience cheered as Davidson entered the frame and greeted Jost and his fellow co-anchor, Michael Che.
“So yeah, in case you’re wondering why I had to do a show in Saudi Arabia, we’re losing millions on this ferry,” he said, referencing his controversial appearance at the Riyadh Comedy Festival. “I assume that’s what the article says ― I can’t spend $5 on a paywall when I got a kid on the way, so...”
Jost, who shares a son with actor Scarlett Johansson, said that he prefers “having a kid to a ferry.”
Davidson then added that the two “even gave the boat a new name” during their ongoing rebrand attempt.
“We thought the Staten Island Ferry sounded too depressing, so now it’s called the ‘Titanic 2,’” the 31-year-old said.
Jost also added that everything is actually “going very well,” as Nike has paid the two to place an ad on the ferry for the New York City Marathon.
“If Lorne Michaels has taught us anything, it’s that you never ever give up, even if everyone says the time has come and Tina Fey is ready to take over,” Davidson quipped.
Davidson has previously defended his appearance at the Riyadh Comedy Festival, which took place in Saudi Arabia, on Theo Von’s podcast in September.
“There’s a lot of people that say people are getting paid by this Middle Eastern money right, you know, and that they can say this, or they can’t say that or that they are over there, they’re going to try to influence you guys in order to speak certain ways,” Von said on his “This Past Weekend” podcast. “Are you part of that conspiracy theory, or is that nothing you’re on?”
“I’ve heard there’s subreddits of like, ‘I think all these people are in bed with that,’” Davidson said. “I just, you know, I get the routing and then I see the number, and I go, ‘I’ll go.’”
He added that he’s “been getting a little bit of flak just because my dad died in 9/11. So they’re like, ‘How could you possibly go there?’”
Davidson performed at the festival, where he was joined by fellow comedians, including Dave Chappelle, Bill Burr, Louis C.K., Hannibal Buress, Kevin Hart, and others.
The Human Rights Watch issued a press release ahead of the event, saying that the Saudi government was using the festival “to deflect attention from its brutal repression of free speech and other pervasive human rights violations.”
The release added, “The festival dates include the seventh anniversary of the Saudi state-sponsored murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi and takes place just months after Saudi authorities executed a journalist apparently for his public speech.”