Pete Davidson opens SNL with emotional message about Israel

More than five months after he was originally supposed to do his Saturday Night Live Former presenter Pete Davidson made a triumphant return to Studio 8H on Saturday evening with an emotional tribute that won’t soon be forgotten.

The iconic comedy series eschewed the usual opening film and instead had Davidson speak about the tragic events currently unfolding in Israel. “I know what you’re thinking: who better to comment on this than Pete Davidson,” the comedian joked. But the timing turned out to be quite a happy coincidence.

“In many ways, I’m a good person to talk about this because when I was seven years old, my father was killed in a terrorist attack,” said Davidson – whose father was a New York City firefighter who died at the World Trade Center September 11th – explained. “So I know something about what that’s like.”

“I have seen so many horrific images of suffering children this week – Israeli and Palestinian children,” Davidson continued. “And it took me back to a really horrible place. Nobody in this world deserves to suffer like that, you know. Especially not children.”

The Bupkis The star went on to share how much effort his mother went to to help him recover after his father’s death and explained how she accidentally rented him Eddie Murphy’s Imaginative Stand-up special. Realizing her mistake, she quickly tried to turn it off – until she realized something. “For the first time in a long time I laughed again.”

So Davidson spoke with authority when he declared, “Sometimes comedy is the only way forward through tragedy.”