The owner of a Bridgeport comedy club has issued a public apology to Pete Davidson following a Monday night incident when the “Saturday Night Live” funnyman stormed out of the venue before his scheduled appearance.
The incident, which was first reported by the celebrity news site TMZ, occurred at Vinnie Brand”™s Stress Factory. The TMZ report stated that Brand told the audience ahead of Davidson”™s gig not to shout out mentions of Kate Beckinsale and Ariana Grande, two of Davidson”™s celebrity ex-girlfriends, which Brand followed by a 5-minute stand-up set of his own. According to TMZ, Davidson found Brand”™s instructions to the audience overly sarcastic and specifically told Brand that he was not to do stand-up before he came on stage. Davidson posted an Instagram video saying Brand “disrespected me and did something that I told him not to do and I can’t perform under those circumstances,” although he added ticketholders to his aborted performance would be welcomed at a free show to be set up at a later date in an undetermined location.
Brand, in a Facebook posting co-signed with his wife, Vicki, refuted the TMZ report, insisting that he cleared his comments “with Pete”™s security team and made the announcement without any attempt to be funny or insincere.” Brand added he “always respected and liked Pete” and that he “reached out to Pete”™s team several times to try to bring this to a better conclusion.”
“Pete I am truly sorry that announcement upset you,” Brand wrote. “I was trying to make certain you were cared for and that you enjoyed your performance. I”™d love to put this behind us. You know we have a good long history prior to this. Hopefully you”™ll think about that and we can do that show you promised where it was intended to be in the first place. If not, I will always still wish the best for you and will root for your continued success.”
