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Claudia Willen
Updated
2022-05-02T20:39:31Z
- Pete Davidson has over 70 tattoos on his body.
- The "Saturday Night Live" comedian has ink inspired by past relationships and his favorite movies.
- He also has tattoos for his late father, a firefighter who died in the September 11th attacks.
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
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Pete Davidson is reportedly getting rid of the more than 70 tattoos covering his body.
During a virtual Q&A with "The King of Staten Island" cast in December 2020, the 28-year-old "Saturday Night Live" cast member revealed that he's "in the process of getting all his tattoos removed," per Mike McGranaghan, a film critic who attended the event.
Over the years, Davidson's tattoos have become a visual representation of his life story — chronicling romances with past partners, like Cazzie David and Ariana Grande, and paying homage to his father, a firefighter who died in the September 11th terrorist attacks.
While a lot of Davidson's tattoos are light-hearted, like a Winnie the Pooh cartoon and a Hillary Clinton portrait, Davidson began getting ink to hide the marks he gave himself from cutting his chest as a form of self-harm.
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"That's why I started getting tats on my chest, to cover them. It's just a release, if you can't get a tattoo... When [I'm] so manic and upset, sometimes that's the only thing that will work for me," he explained during a February 2020 interview with Inked Mag.
Keep reading to see a complete rundown of the comedian's extensive tattoo collection.
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Davidson's first tattoo, which is the word "swerve life," was inspired by Big Sean's song "Mercy."
When Davidson was 17 years old, he and his friend got matching leg tattoos with lyrics from Big Sean's song "Mercy."
"It says 'swerve life' because the Big Sean song had 'Swerve!' in it, and we were like 'That's gonna last forever!'" he told Variety, adding, "So now that's on our legs."
The tattoo came full circle after he started dating Ariana Grande, who was in a relationship with Big Sean years prior.
There are two micro-tattoos on his right hand.
Davidson has a peace symbol and a black heart on his right hand.
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He has an electrocardiogram graph on his collarbone.
Doctors use electrocardiograms to monitor heart health and check the electrical signals in a person's heart, according to Mayo Clinic.
Davidson has not confirmed the meaning behind the tattoo.
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Davidson has the alien from the 1996 film "Mars Attacks" on his chest.
The science fiction film, which was directed by Tim Burton, is about an alien invasion.
Jack Nicholson, one of Davidson's favorite actors, stars in the movie, which could play into Davidson's decision to get the ink.
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In 2018, Davidson covered a tattoo that said, "Jokes come and go, but swag is forever" with a giant shark.
The internet had strong reactions to Davidson's shirtless GQ photoshoot in 2018, one of which was criticism of his chest tattoo that said, "Jokes come and go, but swag is forever."
Days later, he covered the phrase with a colorful shark.
The words "soulmate" and "wobbly," which now surround the animal, were later additions to his collection.
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Davidson has the word "warning" on his wrist.
The comedian added the word "warning" to his wrist.
Although Davidson hasn't confirmed the meaning behind the tattoo, he got the ink sometime after he and Grande broke up in October 2018, as he didn't have the word on his hand in photos of them together.
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"93," the last two digits of his birth year, are tattooed in the middle of his chest.
The comedian was born on November 16, 1993.
His left hand is covered with a map.
The map sits directly below the outer space tattoo on his arm.
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On his left arm, Davidson has a sinister-looking Willy Wonka tattoo.
The comedian used his Willy Wonka-inspired ink to drive home a punch line during a "Pete Davidson & Friends" comedy show in 2019, according to USA Today.
"I got a Harry Potter tattoo. Then the next day, Alan Rickman, the guy who played Snape, died, and I was like, 'Oh, what a weird coincidence,'" Davidson told the audience.
He continued, "Then I got a Willy Wonka tattoo. Next day, Gene Wilder dies. Now I'm like, all right, that's a coincidence, that's weird. So I'm thinking of getting a tattoo of Louis C.K., what do you guys think?"
Davidson went on to say that C.K. attempted to get him booted from the "SNL" cast by reportedly disparaging Davidson's marijuana smoking to "SNL" producers as well as "SNL" creator and executive producer Lorne Michaels.
"Five years later this motherf*cker's been locking doors and jerking off in front of people," Davidson also said in his set, referring to multiple women's sexual misconduct accusations against C.K., who apologized in a public statement, in 2017.
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Days after appearing in an "SNL" sketch about Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the comedian got a tattoo of the late supreme court justice.
Davidson rapped about Ginsburg, who died due to complications from pancreatic cancer in September 2020, during a 2018 "SNL" sketch alongside Chris Redd and Kate McKinnon.
Days after the episode aired, he got a tattoo of "The Notorious R.B.G." on his shoulder, showing the former supreme court justice wearing a crown.
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Davidson covered his "Dangerous Woman" bunny tattoo with a black heart.
During his relationship with Ariana Grande, Davidson got the bunny ears that the singer wore on the "Dangerous Woman" album cover tattooed behind his left ear.
Once they parted ways, he covered it with a large black heart.
In June 2018, the comedian's tattoo artist Jon Mesa revealed that he warned Davidson against getting Grande-inspired art until they were married.
"I told Pete, 'Hey, dude, let's just stop with the girlfriend tats until after [Grande's] you're wife.' Because relationships come and go, and Pete is a really young man. [But] I think that went in one ear and out the other," Mesa told Page Six at the time.
Behind the same ear, he has two X's.
He added the design after covering up the Grande-inspired bunny ears.
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A smiley face is directly below the X's.
The small tattoo sits directly below the black heart.
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Davidson got a tattoo of former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton after she lost the 2016 election.
"I got the tattoo after she lost the election because she's such a cool person," he told Variety.
Davidson continued: "I didn't do it like one of those Super Bowl guys that are like 'The Eagles! We're gonna win!' She's just, like, dope. She's just a dope person."
Clinton seemed to approve of Davidson's tribute when she came across a photo of the ink on Instagram.
She commented: "Thanks, @petedavidson. This makes it significantly less awkward that I've had a Pete Davidson tattoo for years."
Davidson had a run-in with the former secretary of state in 2018 at Aretha Franklin's funeral, where they were seen chatting.
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Davidson has a series of tattoos — including a ghost, Pac-Man, a plane, and a ski mask — layered on top of each other.
The tattoos appear to be layered in the middle of his chest, situated below a broken heart symbol.
A white angel covers the right side of Davidson's back.
Flanked by black birds flying above it, the white figure looks down and covers the lower part of Davidson's back.
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The other side shows a person wearing a black hoodie.
The tattoo of a person, which is surrounded by butterflies, seems to be in direct contrast to the white angel on the right side of his back.
The two tattoos may be a reference to the "good angel versus bad angel" trope used to represent the two sides of a person's conscience in popular culture, though Davidson hasn't confirmed the meaning behind the ink.
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Davidson has a large wolf tattooed on his right forearm.
The comedian has a tattoo of the animal on the front of his right forearm.
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"Redrum," a famous reference to the 1980 film "The Shining," is tattooed on his hand.
The word "redrum," which is "murder" spelled backward, is tattooed in red ink and all capital letters on the comedian's hand.
The ink is a reference to "The Shining," a 1980 horror film directed by Stanley Kubrick that was based on Stephen King's novel of the same name.
It's possible that Davidson chose the design because Jack Nicholson starred in the film, and the "SNL" comedian has been an outspoken fan of the Academy Award-winning actor's work.
During a 2018 appearance on "The Howard Stern Show," Davidson revealed that he turned down Lorne Michael's invitation to meet Nicholson.
"We were in LA, and he was having dinner with Jack Nicholson and Jon Hamm. He was like, 'Would you like to come?'" Davidson told the host, Howard Stern.
He continued: "I was like, 'No, there's nothing — what am I going to do? You guys are going to have conversations about stuff you can relate with, and I'm going to be like, 'Hey, what was the '[One Flew Over the] Cuckoo's Nest' like?"
Davidson told Stern that he "can't live with Jack Nicholson hating me."
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A self-proclaimed fan of the Harry Potter franchise, Davidson has an Albus Dumbledore quote on his left forearm.
The quote, which is from J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," is tattooed on his forearm.
It reads: "Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light."
Davidson has previously spoken about being a "Harry Potter" fan and told Rolling Stone that he's read all seven books in 2016.
However, the comedian contradicted himself in a Variety interview years later, admitting that he hasn't read past the third book.
He has several planets tattooed on his left arm.
The comedian has Earth, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn permanently drawn on his arm.
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The words "pure imagination" are written above the planets.
The words are written in cursive above his elbow.
Davidson has a tattoo inspired by the hit HBO show "The Sopranos."
"Bada Bing" is in the name of the fictional strip club in the show, and Davidson's tattoo is a replica of the logo.
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There's also a tattoo that says "Christmas Boy" on his stomach.
The words are framed by what appears to be mistletoe.
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In honor of his late father, Davidson has a kneeling firefighter on his upper left arm.
The comedian has numerous tattoos that serve as tributes to his late father, Scott Davidson, who died when the "SNL" star was 7 years old.
Though he's spoken about the serious role that his father's death has played in his life, the comedian has also incorporated the tragedy into some of his routines.
"I lost my dad on 9/11," he said at a Comedy Central roast for Justin Bieber in 2015, according to the Washington Post.
He continued: "I always regretted growing up without a dad. Until I met your dad, Justin. Now I'm glad mine's dead."
His father's death also became a major plot point in Davidson's semi-autobiographical film "The King of Staten Island" (2020).
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There's a large flower with bees on his side.
It's surrounded by three bees and next to the hooded figure surrounded by butterflies on his back.
Davidson has a tattoo of two hands holding each other on his upper back.
The ink sits on the comedian's upper left shoulderblade.
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He has a cartoon toaster and a drawing of DoodleBob above his elbow.
The comedian has DoodleBob, the self-portrait that SpongeBob SquarePants drew on season 2 of the Nickelodeon show, tattooed on his elbow. He also has a smiling toaster directly above it.
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A proud Staten Island native, the comedian has Verrazzano Bridge tattooed on his left shoulder.
The Verrazzano Bridge connects Brooklyn and Staten Island, where Davidson was born and raised.
Davidson frequently mentions his upbringing in Staten Island in his comedy and even set the 2020 film "The King of Staten Island" in the borough.
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He got a massive white unicorn tattooed on his right bicep.
In 2019, Davidson got a white unicorn, complete with a horn, on his upper arm.
Tattoo artist Ryan Mullins shared a photo of the finished art on his Instagram.
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He has his late father's badge number on his left arm.
In remembrance of his father, the comedian got "8418," his badge number, tattooed on his arm.
His ex-fiancée Ariana Grande also got the number tattooed on her foot while they were together. However, she covered it after they broke up.
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He has three rubber ducks above the "8418" tattoo.
The tattoo sits directly on his elbow.
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Davidson and Grande got matching "reborn" tattoos while they were dating.
Grande and Davidson got matching "reborn" tattoos on their hands during their five month-relationship.
Following their breakup, the "Positions" singer covered hers with a design that looks like a feather or fern. Davidson has not confirmed whether he's amended his ink.
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He has a wild cat on the underside of his left arm.
The animal, which appears to be a tiger, is tattooed on the underside of his arm.
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Machine Gun Kelly gave Davidson a real leg tattoo that says "Zeke" in their film "Big Time Adolescence."
Davidson and Kelly, whose real name is Colson Baker, co-starred in the 2019 film "Big Time Adolescence."
In one of the scenes, Kelly gives his longtime friend Davidson a tattoo on his right leg that reads "Zeke," which is the name of his character in the movie.
During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the duo confirmed that the ink was real.
"He actually killed it," Davidson said, adding that Kelly made the letter "Z" thicker because he retraced it "when they were starting to roll camera."
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He covered a tattoo of Grande's last name with a large black keyhole.
While he was dating the "Thank U, Next" singer, Davidson got a tattoo of her last name running down the right side of his torso.
After they parted ways in 2018, he covered the cursive with a black keyhole.
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He has a quote from the 2006 film "Rocky Balboa" on his back.
Taking inspiration from Sylvester Stallone's 2006 film, Davidson got a tattoo of one of Balboa's motivational lines.
The quote reads: "It ain't about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward."
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A quote from the 1982 film "The King of Comedy" is tattooed on his left hip.
"The King of Comedy," which was directed by Martin Scorsese and starred Robert de Niro, seemed to resonate with Davidson.
The film is about a struggling stand-up comedian named Rupert Pupkin (de Niro) who holds onto dreams of becoming famous.
His line, "Better to be king for a night than schmuck for a lifetime," is tattooed on Davidson's hip.
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He has a New York state driver's license, three stars, and a quote tattooed on his right shoulder.
Though he hasn't confirmed whose driver's license it is, Davidson has the I.D. tattooed on his shoulder. Three stars sit directly above it.
He also has the words, "Light up the dark" on his shoulder.
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The number "11" is tattooed behind his ear.
The ink may be a tribute to his father, who died on September 11, 2001.
Davidson has his birth year on his left arm in addition to the main character from "The Grinch."
The comedian was born on November 16, 1993.
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He has a series of micro-tattoos on his fingers, including a kite that covers a tattoo of Grande's initials.
Davidson has the Pokémon character Pikachu tattooed on his left index finger.
On his opposite thumb, he has a small black kite, which covers the "AG" he got when he was engaged to Grande.
"IX," the roman numeral for "9" is tattooed on his left arm.
The number is directly below the firefighter tattoo and could be a tribute to his father.
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Davidson and Miley Cyrus got a matching tattoos that read, "We babies." He's since removed the ink.
Davidson and Cyrus memorialized their 2017 "SNL" sketch, "The Baby Step," with matching tattoos, the duo said on a 2021 episode of "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon."
The musician recalled Larry David, who also appeared in the sketch, asking her and Davidson what they were doing dressed in costume as "trap babies."
"We said, 'We babies.' And for some reason we looked at each other and was like, 'That's a great tattoo!'" Cyrus told Fallon.
Davidson said he then had his "tattoo guy" come straight to 30 Rock. He got the ink on his hand, while Cyrus opted for an identical design on the side of her foot.
The comedian said that he has since lasered off the tattoo, leading Cyrus to cut in and explain that she had no idea he was removing it until she saw him doing so in a Smartwater commercial.
"I'm like, 'Wait a minute. That's right where 'We babies' was,'" Cyrus said. "I still have 'We babies.'"
She added: "I stopped smoking weed the next day for a couple of years. Well, at least with Pete anyway."
He has "thank goodness" written on his chest.
The tattoo is drawn in black ink.
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He covered the "mille tendresse" tattoo that he got with Ariana Grande with the word "cursed."
After Davidson began dating Grande, he got a tattoo on the back of his neck that read, "mille tendresse," a French phrase that translates to a "thousand tendernesses."
The phrase appears in "Breakfast at Tiffany's," which is one of Grande's favorite movies, and the pop star has the same ink.
After the couple broke up, Davidson revisited the parlor to amend the ink and covered the phrase with the word "cursed."
He has "f--- you" written on the inside of his right middle finger.
The phrase is on the middle of his finger in black ink.
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He has a black scribble tattooed on his right hip.
Davidson hasn't confirmed the meaning behind this tattoo.
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Davidson has a firefighter helmet, a Star of David, and a lotus drawing tattooed on the inside of his left arm.
The firefighter helmet is likely dedicated to his late father, Scott Davidson.
And though the comedian attended Catholic all boy's school, he's reportedly of Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry, which could explain the Star of David tattoo.
Davidson also has a tattoo of a lotus flower, which symbolizes peace, purity, and spiritual awakening in many cultures.
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He has the Tootsie pop owl tattooed on the middle of his back.
In 2019, Davidson got the owl from the 1968 Tootsie Pop campaign drawn on his back.
His tattoo artist, Jon Mesa, posted a photo of the art to his Instagram and captioned the photo: "How many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop roll?"
He has a tattoo of the phrase, "You know bupkis."
According to Grammarist, "bupkis" means "nothing" or "nonsense" in the Yiddish language.
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He has numerous small tattoos on his hands.
Davidson has a stick figure holding a gun tattooed on his right wrist. Opposite of the ink, he has the number "237" drawn vertically on him.
The comedian also has an arrow that covers the "H2GKMO" tattoo he got with Grande, who's known for saying, "Honest to God knock me out."
His left hand features another cover-up. Davidson got a tattoo inspired by his ex-girlfriend Cazzie David on his ring finger but decided to get an unidentified design over it when he started seeing Grande.
"Kanan," the name of his friend's son, is tattooed on his neck.
In December 2018, Davidson reportedly got the tattoo to celebrate his friend's young son.
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He covered his tattoo of his ex Cazzie David with trees and a moon.
Shortly after Davidson began dating Grande in May 2018, he covered a tattoo he got as a tribute to David, who he broke up with earlier that month.
His tattoo artist, Jon Mesa, drew over the cartoon to make it into a forest in June 2018.
"Did this crazy coverup last night on my boy @petedavidson," Mesa captioned the Instagram post.
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Next to a tattoo of the painting from "Goodfellas," Davidson has his father's initials on his right arm above a crying heart.
The comedian has a tattoo of the painting that Tommy's mother (Catherine Scorsese) shows off in the 1990 film "Goodfellas" on his torso. The painting was actually based on a photograph from a 1978 issue of National Geographic.
He also has the initials "SMD," which likely stands for Scott Matthew Davidson, on his arm. A crying heart with red ink sits directly below it.
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On his left arm, Davidson has the fireman's prayer, four-leaf clover, and a number.
Underneath the large firefighter on his bicep, Davidson has the words, "Enable me to be alert and hear the weakest shout" on his arm.
The phrase comes from a poem called "The Fireman's Prayer" in a 1958 book called "A Celebration of Poets" and likely is related to Davidson's late father.
Below the quote, he has a four-leaf clover, which is a symbol of good luck, and the number "1468." Davidson hasn't confirmed the meaning behind the number.
Davidson has boxing gloves on his back.
The tattoo shows the gloves hanging upside down. They're directly beside a quote from "Rocky Balboa."
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He has the word "goon" on his chest along with a one-eyed cartoon.
Davidson got the word "goon" written on his chest in bright red letters. Directly below it, he has a large one-eyed cartoon animal.
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He also has his godson's name on his neck.
Davidson and Ricky Velez have been best friends for years.
"Right away, we clicked," Velez told the Daily Beast, adding, "He's family to me. He's the godfather of my son. We were just two native New Yorkers, young kids in the game, and we were definitely a lot younger than the people we were around."
A dedicated godfather, Davidson got the name of Velez's son, Leo, tattooed on his neck.
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The word "Shaolin" is tattooed on Davidson's stomach.
Shaolin is one of the oldest styles of martial arts.
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Davidson has his own last name, Winnie the Pooh, and the pet pig he adopted with Grande tattooed on his left side.
The "SNL" star has his last name tattooed on his side directly next to a drawing of the famous cartoon Winnie the Pooh.
Lower down on his hip, Davidson has a tattoo of Piggy Smallz, the pet pig he and Grande adopted during their relationship.
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Davidson has a Wu-Tang clan tattoo on his right shoulder.
"They are Staten Island. That's what Staten Island is," he said while chatting about the band, which formed in Staten Island, during a 2018 interview with Complex.
When the interview complimented his tattoo, Davidson responded, "Thank you. Mushrooms is a fun thing to do."
He has an "Order of the Phoenix" tattoo on his right forearm next to the wolf.
The ink is one of the many Harry Potter-inspired drawings the comedian has on his body.
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He and Grande got matching cloud tattoos on their middle fingers.
The pop star also got the small emoji-like tattoo on her finger.
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A few of Davidson's tattoos are dedicated to his girlfriend Kim Kardashian.
Kim Kardashian inspired Davidson to add several tattoos to his collection after she started dating the comedian in 2021.
"He has a few tattoos, a few cute ones that he got," the SKIMS founder said on a March episode of "The Ellen DeGeneres Show."
Confirming that Davidson has more than three designs inspired by their relationship, she said her favorite one sits on his collarbone. It reads: "My girl is a lawyer."
The reality star has been studying to earn her law degree and passed California's First-Year Law Students' Examination in 2021.
Davidson's no stranger to getting inked-on tributes to his partners, but he went one step further though by branding Kardashian's first name on his chest.
"The 'Kim' one isn't a tattoo. It's actually a branding because he wanted to do something that was really different," Kardashian explained.
Despite his efforts to remove his arm and neck tattoos, Davidson wanted a permanent tribute to Kardashian.
"He's like, 'I don't want to be able to get rid of it or to cover it up and I just wanted it there as like a scar on me,'" she told DeGeneres.
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Fans speculate that one of Davidson's tattoos is a tribute to Kardashian's children.
After performing a stand-up set at the "Netflix is a Joke: The Festival" in late April, Davidson departed from Los Angeles' Fonda Theatre with Kardashian. In paparazzi photos taken of the couple, there is a small tattoo on Davidson's neck that appears to feature five letters: KNSCP.
After the pictures surfaced online, fans speculated that the acronym stands for Kim, North, Saint, Chicago, and Psalm — Davidson's girlfriend and the four young children she shares with her ex-husband Ye (formerly known as Kanye West).
However, Davidson has not confirmed the ink's significance.
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About Me
I am an expert and enthusiast assistant. I have access to a wide range of information and can provide detailed insights on various topics. I can help answer questions, provide explanations, and engage in discussions on a wide range of subjects. My responses are based on up-to-date information available at the current time.
Pete Davidson's Extensive Tattoo Collection
Pete Davidson, the "Saturday Night Live" comedian, is known for his extensive tattoo collection, which serves as a visual representation of his life story. His tattoos are inspired by various aspects of his life, including past relationships, favorite movies, and tributes to his late father, who was a firefighter and died in the September 11th terrorist attacks. Davidson's tattoos cover a wide range of themes, from pop culture references to personal experiences. Some of his notable tattoos include references to Big Sean's song "Mercy," the film "Mars Attacks," and tributes to iconic figures such as Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Hillary Clinton. Additionally, Davidson has tattoos related to his interests, such as Harry Potter, "The Sopranos," and the Wu-Tang Clan. His tattoo collection also includes matching tattoos with former partners, such as Ariana Grande and Miley Cyrus. Furthermore, Davidson has added tattoos inspired by his relationship with Kim Kardashian, including a notable tribute to her pursuit of a law degree. Overall, his tattoos reflect a diverse range of influences and personal experiences, making his collection a significant part of his identity.
For more detailed information on specific tattoos and their meanings, feel free to ask for further details on any particular tattoo or theme.
I'm here to provide more information or discuss any specific aspects of Pete Davidson's tattoos.
