As fans will remember, Grande and Davidson got together shortly after the thank u, next songstress broke up with late rapper-producer Mac Miller. The two got engaged in June of 2018 but split that following October a few weeks after Miller suddenly passed away. Grande recently opened up about their relationship in a 2019 interview with Vogue, telling the publication, “I met Pete, and it was an amazing distraction. It was frivolous and fun and insane and highly unrealistic, and I loved him, and I didn't know him.”

In Alive From New York, Davidson said he originally hadn’t planned to include any jokes about the matter in his special. But once he caught wind of his former fiance's remarks that their relationship was just a “distraction” to her, he felt it was “fair game.” 

“Can you imagine if I did that?” Davidson remarked of the interview. “My career would be over tomorrow if I spray-painted myself brown and hopped on the cover of Vogue magazine and just started s****ing on my ex. Can you imagine?”

He added, “If I was just like, ‘Yeah, I was just f***ed her because I was bored, and then Fortnite came out,’ it would be insane.”

The cover in question is Grande’s Vogue feature for the publication’s July 2019 issue. The pop singer, who is of Italian descent, and Vogue sparked controversy online as Grande seemingly appeared to be significantly darker, especially in light of her previous cover photo for British Vogue’s July 2018 issue where she was noticeably lighter. 

The New York-bred 26-year-old cushioned his comments with the sentiment that comedy is the space where he can channel his thoughts, much like Grande does with her music.

RELATED: Ariana Grande And Pete Davidson Have Ended Their Relationship

Still, the reception to Davidson’s comments has been divisive. While some are appreciative that he pointed out an issue that Grande has been previously criticized on multiple occasions, others felt his intentions came from a malicious place.  

“We’re really going through a spate of bitter millennial dude comedy specials on Netflix. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a bitter millennial dude, but first Aziz and now Pete Davidson doing resentful and aggrieved jokes about their exes is pretty boring. More Ali Wong please,” one person commented on Twitter. 

“Why isn’t Ariana Grande cancelled yet? She just went on and said she used Pete Davidson as a distraction during their engagement,” a second countered. “Pete ain’t wrong when he said she paints herself brown and talks s**t. Why is Ariana excluded from cancel culture?”

Check out the rest of the discourse of Pete Davidson’s comments about Ariana Grande below: