Why Pete Davidson Missed ‘SNL’ This Week Amid Kanye West Drama

This week’s Saturday Night Live did not have many opportunities for cast members to shine since host John Mulaney took center stage. Pete Davidson was not seen because he was not at 30 Rock at all. Davidson’s reason for missing the show had nothing to do with the Kim Kardashian and Kaye West drama he is in the middle of though.

Hours before the show started, sources told Variety Davidson would be missing from the Feb. 26 episode because he is making the horror movie The Home. A spokesperson for SNL did not comment. There will be new episodes on March 5 and March 12, but it is not clear if Davidson will miss those as well.

Davidson was cast in The Home in January, Deadline reported at the time. He plays Max, a troubled man who works at a retirement home where residents have sinister secrets. Although it is not a good idea, he starts investigating the home and its mysterious fourth floor. He soon discovers connections between his past as a foster child and the building. The Home is directed by James DeMonaco (The Purge) and written by DeMonaco and Adam Cantor. Miramax’s Bill Block and Sebastian K. Lemercier are producing.

Davidson is the latest SNL star to get permission from executive producer Lorne Michaels to skip episodes for other projects. Cecily Strong missed episodes last year to film Apple TV+’s Schmigadoon. Aidy Bryant also missed episodes to work on Hulu’s Shrill. (Both Shrill and Schmigadoon are productions from Michaels’ Broadway Video.) Kate McKinnon also missed episodes this season to film the Joe Exotic miniseries Joe vs. Carole for Peacock.

Since Davidson missed SNL, Andrew Dismukes took the part he would usually play in a Mulaney-starring musical sketch. Mulaney’s episode featured longer sketches, which led to “Weekend Update” being noticeably short. The Ukrainian Chorus Dumka of New York performed “Prayer for Ukraine” as a show of support for Ukraine after the Russian invasion instead of a traditional cold open sketch.

Davidson’s private life has been under scrutiny in recent years since he’s dated several celebrities. He is now in a relationship with Kim Kardashian, which made him the target of insults from her estranged husband Kanye West. Last week, Kardashian accused West of “emotional distress” and making it difficult for her to be declared legally single. In response to that court filing, West and his lawyers tried to keep Kardashian from using his social media outbursts because it would be hard for Kardashian to prove West wrote them himself.