Pete Davidson Reportedly Forced to Walk Off Stage Over Heckling at Omaha Standup Set
Pete Davidson reportedly walked off stage during a recent stop on his Prehab Tour at the Steelhouse Omaha in Nebraska on Friday, after hecklers in the audience taunted him throughout his entire set and refused to let him finish his last joke. But fans are rallying around the comedian and lamenting that it even had to come to that, as well as questioning why the venue didn't eject the troublemakers from the audience.
One audience member, Kate Stivers, shared her thoughts on YouTube following the unfortunate incident, calling the heckling "relentless" and pointing her finger at the outspoken minority that ruined the show for everyone else.
"I just have to say, where the f--k did decorum go at events?" Stivers incredulously asked. "Because he shouldn’t have had to walk off stage because you guys don’t understand that because you see crowd work on TikTok that you think every comedian now needs to be heckled to the point that they leave stage with one joke left."
"Like, it's just absolutely absurd, you're ruining it for the whole show," she continued, noting that she saw one attendee actually bragging about heckling as he left the show. "Meanwhile, your girlfriend's running away to hide in the car because they don't wanna be seen and are so embarrassed with you."
"There should be no tolerance," she later added. "If you're gonna yell out to comedians during shows and ruin it for everybody else you need to immediately be kicked the f--k out."
Over on Reddit, another attendee shared their recollection of the incident. "During the beginning of his set, Pete described the objective of the Prehab Tour is to joke about regrets," the user wrote. "I’m fairly certain the audience for the 9:30 p.m. Omaha show is now one of them."
Apparently there were three or four groups of people who were doing the bulk of the interrupting, with one person inexplicably shouting out "Ariana Grande!" near the beginning of the show. In turn, Davidson responded by telling the person to "shut up" in "an appropriate but irritated way."
However, the situation reportedly devolved over the course of Davidson's set, as people continued to interrupt him even as he recounted how he feels unfairly treated due to the public fascination surrounding his personal life. And when the 30-year-old engaged with an audience member who shouted out that he "loved him" near the end of his set, it apparently emboldened others.
"This communication created a domino effect from crowds seated in the upper floor while he tried to interject, stating he wants to finish the last joke, which was sure to be absolutely worth it," the Reddit user explained. "Between the collective shouting and Pete demanded he tell the final joke then consequently where he held his hands up, dropped the mic, walked off and lights was probably all of ten seconds."
A few others who had been to the 7 p.m. show stated in the comments that the earlier set had gone on without incident.
Given that audience members had their phones taken from them before the set, it's unclear why the venue didn't crack down on the unruly behavior. A rep for Steelhouse was not immediately available for comment to Men's Journal, while a rep for Davidson could not be reached.
