Pete Davidson’s joke about his daughter isn’t edgy or funny – it’s sickening

As I was sitting up in bed, half a cup of tea in one hand, phone in the other, doing my familiar morning doom scroll before the day properly began, I was skimming headlines without really taking much in.

And then I saw it.

An article about Pete Davidson joking about watching porn in front of his baby daughter.

‘[I] got a little girl,’ Davidson said, during a comedy show in Las Vegas on Saturday.

‘It’s weird having a little girl.

It’s hard to watch porn… in front of her.

‘I still did,’ added Davidson.

‘I power through’.

I actually stopped scrolling and re-read the article again to make sure I hadn’t misunderstood.

But no, that was indeed the joke.

A punchline designed to make people laugh, yet I was not laughing.

Plus I’m not anti-comedy, far from it.

I’ve watched comedians – including Pete Davidson – push boundaries, say the unsayable, and make audiences think as much as they laugh.

That’s often the point of comedy.

It provokes.

It challenges.

It nudges at the edges of what we consider acceptable and forces us to examine why.

And when it’s done well, it can be brilliant.

But not everything that shocks is smart.

Not everything that crosses a line is doing so with purpose; sometimes, it’s just crossing a line.

And this latest joke, for me, falls firmly into the latter category.

There’s nothing clever about what Davidson said.

No uncomfortable truth being exposed or explored.

Just the casual normalisation of something that should never be normalised.

And that’s where it becomes a problem.

Because what’s being joked about here is an idea – however exaggerated or framed it is – of a baby being exposed to explicit sexual content.

A child, with no understanding, no context, no ability to consent or process what they’re seeing.

And, while not explicitly said, there is an implicit – and equally disturbing – layer to this: that people don’t generally watch porn just for the storyline.

Davidson’s joke suggests something even more uncomfortable: the idea of sexual arousal in the presence of a child.

This feels deeply wrong.

In any other context, we would call all of this what it is: deeply inappropriate and a serious safeguarding concern.

And that’s the main point here for me.

That’s why, as I sat there in bed, my first thought wasn’t ‘That’s edgy’ or ‘That’s controversial.’ It was: ‘Why on earth are people laughing at this?’
I’m sure lots of people would rush to make fun of the fact that I was offended; to call my reaction ‘woke’.

But it’s not about that.

It’s about recognising harm, and let’s be very clear on this point: Davidson’s joke wasn’t funny.

It was harmful.

As a parent, this feeling hit me even harder.

Because when you have children, your entire perspective shifts.

You don’t just hear what others may describe as a joke, you run it through a completely different filter.

One that is wired around protection, safety, and an almost primal instinct to shield your child from harm.

If we were to strip this back, taking away the stage and the celebrity and placing it into a real-world setting, the response would be completely different.

What do you think about what Davidson said?

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If a parent told you they were watching porn in front of their baby, you – presumably – wouldn’t laugh.

You wouldn’t shrug it off as ‘just a joke.’ You would be very concerned.

You’d be asking questions about that child’s safety.

About what else they might be exposed to.

About whether they are being protected in the way they should be.

Those are safeguarding issues, and they exist for a reason.

As a mother and as a professional, I can’t separate myself from that reality.

So, when I hear a joke like this being laughed at, it doesn’t just feel uncomfortable.

It feels like we’re collectively lowering the bar on what we consider acceptable when it comes to children.

And that has wider ramifications.

Because humour doesn’t exist in isolation.

It reflects and shapes attitudes.

It influences what we normalise and what we challenge.

And when something like this is laughed at – brushed off as ‘just a joke’ – it creates space for inappropriate behaviour to be minimised in real life too.

It sends a message, subtle, but significant, that this isn’t a big deal.

But it is.

We should be able to enjoy comedy while still holding firm boundaries around what is and isn’t ok, especially when children are involved.

We should be able to say, ‘That joke doesn’t land,’ without being accused of overreacting.

It isn’t about being sensitive, it’s about being responsible.

And if there’s anything to take away from this, it’s not the punchline.

It’s the reminder that children are not props.

That safeguarding isn’t optional.

And that joking about exposing a child to sexual content isn’t edgy, brave or boundary-pushing.

It’s just downright dangerous.