Pete Davidson has thoughts about the internet economy, but they aren’t the most creative ones. In a new Variety “Ask A Local” interview, the comedian spent a chunk of his time picking apart how creators make money, landing somewhere between offended and fascinated. And no, he isn’t just talking about OnlyFans creators. He seems to have a problem with any kind of influencer, while also being jealous of them somehow.
“People do really crazy shit on the internet,” Davidson said. “It’s bad, and it makes me sad, you know, and girls are just talking to themselves on there, and they’re like, ‘Okay, come get ready with me,’ and I’m like, ‘Who the fuck are you? What do you do? Nothing. What the fuck is this?'” He went further, claiming some creators pull in “40 million a year,” concluding flatly: “The world’s broken.” He described watching young women mutter a line and do a quick dance on TikTok, and the former SNL star seemed truly stunned that the format translates into real fame and real money. “Does no one else see how fucking insane and lame this is?” he asked.
Yet despite the rant about how “insane and lame” the whole industry is, Davidson admitted he actually thinks about joining the exact economy he was just mocking. Specifically, he joked about starting an OnlyFans. “I do think about it once a week; I’m like, should I just start an OnlyFans and show soft cock? Like really tight underwear and soft cock and retire, or just keep trying?” he said. “I don’t know if it all goes to fail; I could just soft cock it.” Whether that’s a real contingency plan or just a bit, Davidson’s confusion about the influencer economy clearly hasn’t stopped him from recognizing its earning potential.
That contradiction of mocking the money while quietly eyeing it isn’t isolated to Davidson’s mind. It is a real pattern growing across entertainment more broadly. A long list of actors, comedians, and musicians have actually done what Davidson is only joking about. “American Pie” star Shannon Elizabeth earned more than $1.2 million in her first week on OnlyFans, citing frustration with an industry where “other people controlled the narrative and the outcome of my career.” “Harry Potter” actress Jessie Cave made more in a single day than she had in 18 years of acting combined, and credits the platform with saving her family financially after a string of personal and professional setbacks. “Knots Landing” icon Donna Mills joined at 85 and reportedly earned “many six figures” within weeks, entirely on a free subscription page funded by tips and paid messages. “Sopranos” alum Drea de Matteo cleared $75,000 in 75 minutes after facing home foreclosure when acting work dried up. Each of them, in their own way, arrived at the same conclusion that Davidson is joking about: traditional entertainment income can be unpredictable, and a platform built on direct fan relationships can outperform it fast.
Davidson’s skepticism about influencer culture specifically, referencing the TikTok dances and the “get ready with me” videos, should really be a separate conversation from the OnlyFans question. While he collapsed them into the same rant, they are totally separate concepts. Plenty of creators making real money through short-form content do something closer to traditional entertainment than people assume: building a persona, maintaining consistency, and understanding an audience well enough to keep it engaged daily. Davidson’s confusion of the two makes his critique a little less impactful, and it seems he really is unfamiliar with how audience-building works outside a studio system.
It’s also important to note how differently this kind of joke lands depending on who’s making it. When a male celebrity jokes about joining OnlyFans, it reads as a joke, complete with low stakes and no real reputational risk. Female creators who actually make that move, famous or not, routinely face scrutiny their male counterparts would almost certainly never generate. Davidson can float the idea as a punchline because nobody expects consequences for him if he does follow that path.
Whether Davidson ever actually launches a page remains genuinely unclear. And given how quickly a joke like that can snowball online, countless articles will be written about it, and he may end up regretting that statement. But the gap between his on-record mockery and his private curiosity says something real about where the entertainment economy currently sits: even its skeptics see the potential in online content creation.