Pete Davidson says he was high at Aretha Franklin’s funeral in new Netflix special

Pete Davidson has revealed that when he attended Aretha Franklin’s funeral in 2018, he was high on ketamine.

The comedian, 30, has just released a new one-hour-long Netflix special titled Turbo Fonzerelli, in which the Saturday Night Live star makes raw, and sometimes crude, jokes about everything from his childhood crush on the Titanic-era Leonard DiCaprio, his mother’s sex life and his relationship with drugs.

“I was on a drug for the past two and half, three years called Ketamine. What a time,” he says in the special.

“It’s embarrassing when you’re not on ketamine anymore, though… I’m embarrassed,” Davidson said. “I was out and about like that. That’s not cool, you know? I was at funerals like that. That’s f**** up, right? I was at Aretha Franklin’s funeral like that. Yeah, I have to live with that. You know what I mean? She’ll never know, but still, that’s not the point. You know what I mean?”

He continues, “If she was there, she would probably be like, ‘Hey, who are you? And what the f*** are you doing at my funeral?’ It’s embarrassing. I’m so high, I thought it would be a good idea to go up to her family and go, ‘Hey, I’m just here to pay my R-E-S-P-E-C-T…S.”

When Davidson attended the singer’s funeral at Detroit’s Greater Grace Temple in August 2018, he arrived alongside his then-fiancée singer Ariana Grande, who performed a song at the service. Davidson and Grande split in October 2018 after being engaged for four months.

Davidson, who had recently celebrated his 30th birthday before recording the Netflix special, said: “I had to stop doing hard drugs because [you] can’t be a drug addict in your thirties, you know?”

“Doing drugs in your twenties is fine. It’s like an excuse. You’re like: ‘I’m finding myself.’ It’s cute, you know?”

Davidson joined SNL in 2014, making him ​one of the youngest performers ever to be featured in the sketch comedy series’s five-decade history. He has also made cameos in movies such as Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3, and in 2020 he released his first hour-long standup show on Netflix, titled: Pete Davidson: Alive From New York, which received mixed reviews and was called controversial by some critics.

The comedian has been open about his relationship with drugs and attending rehab, in previous appearances. Davidson confirmed a previous stint in rehab in February 2020 and said in an interview with Howard Stern that he went to rehab in 2016 because “there was no way I could stop” using drugs.

“I was like, somebody has to put me in a house where there is literally nothing,” Davidson told Stern in 2018. “I had too much access.”

Elsewhere in the Netflix special, Davidson joked that when he was 10 years old, he questioned his sexuality because he had a crush on Titanic star Leonard DiCaprio.

“When I was 10, I thought I was gay. I was wrong, but I thought, at 10, because I was obsessed with Leonard DiCaprio, I was in love.”

“Yes. I was into girls too, but I’m from Staten Island and in 2002, no girl was hotter than DiCaprio.”

He then remarked that DiCaprio still attracts women “based off what he looked like in 2002. He is the GOAT [Greatest Of All Time], I hope he never gets married. Running the best catch-and-release program the universe has ever seen.”

If you or someone you know is suffering from drug addiction, you can seek confidential help and support 24-7 from Frank, by calling 0300 123 6600, texting 82111, sending an email or visiting their website here. In the US, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration can be reached at 1-800-662-HELP.