Jon Stewart addresses cover-up of toxic air after 9/11: 'Everyone knew'
Comedian Jon Stewart joined New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's announcement that his administration will release more than 170,000 pages of documents shedding new light on the air quality around Ground Zero in the months following the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.
Pete Davidson is now the same age — 33 — that his firefighter dad was when he died on 9/11.
"I thought, ‘Oh, he was an old guy. He’s 33,’" Davidson told the New York Post in a recent interview. "But now I’m there, and I have a kid, and that would be like my kid not having her dad."
To mark 25 years since the tragedy, Davidson is participating in a comedy benefit at Madison Square Garden with Jon Stewart.
Pete Davidson is now the same age his dad was when he died on 9/11, and he's now a father himself. (Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty Images)
"So, this year is extra tough, but also extra beautiful because I get to spend the day with Scottie," he said of his daughter who was born last December and is named after his late father. "It’ll be very healing and special."
Davidson shares Scottie with ex-girlfriend Elsie Hewitt.
"It was really cool that Elsie also wanted to name her Scottie," he told the Post. "My dad’s name was Scott, but his nickname was Scotty. When she arrived, we both looked at her and were like, ‘She looks like a Scottie.’ It’s nice to keep that name alive."
The "Saturday Night Live" alum is also looking forward to using the comedy benefit as a way of "reclaim[ing]" the day and just having "fun."
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"And not be in the middle of 12 documentaries that are so sad and rehash it," he added.
Pete Davidson attends the Leary Firefighters Foundation 10th anniversary firefighter challenge at the FDNY Fire Academy in May in New York City. (Getty Images for The Leary Firefighters Foundation)
Davidson explained on Theo Von’s podcast last year that his dad's crew was the first truck over the bridge to the World Trade Center.
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"So they were the first truck over there and pretty much the whole house died, which is sad, but at least he died with his pals."
Davidson called his dad "f---ing hilarious."
"My memories are few and far between because I was 7, but I just remember laughing a lot, him being pretty jacked and smoking a lot of cigarettes, and driving a Subaru Impreza. That’s all I remember."
He said he also remembers his dad always had a big smile on his face, and old friends who tell Davidson stories about him also light up when they talk about him.
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"I was really young, so I didn’t know what the f--- happened, so it hit me later. Like when I was in college, I was like, ‘Oh, I’m pretty angry about this," he revealed.
"It’s actually super f---ed up, but I have his badge, like his chain and they, and that’s how they --- you know, cause everybody was pretty burnt up, so that’s how they knew it was him. And I have it, and I just keep it in a safe because, like with my luck, I’ll lose that s---."
Pete Davidson and his mother on "Saturday Night Live" in 2021. (NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)
He said he also has his dad’s jacket, which he used to have on display in his home but decided to take down because it could be a depressing reminder all the time.
Davidson’s mom has pictures of his dad everywhere in her home. He said, "But it’s kind of haunting where you’re just like I would like the option, like if I want to go down memory lane I can, but like just like to have your dad staring at you every day…"
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Davidson told the Post that he’s not sure how he’ll tell his daughter about how her grandfather died. "Luckily, I have some time," he said.
"Honestly, this year is way harder than it’s been in a really long time because I have Scottie, and now I’m the age that my dad was when he died," he admitted. "So I’m just kind of like, ‘Holy s--t.’"
Pete Davidson attending a game with Jon Stewart in 2023. (Getty Images)
In 2023, Davison told the "Real Ones" podcast that his father told him he would pick him up from school on 9/11, but he was picked up by his mother, who didn’t tell him anything for three days.
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He said his mom was 30 at the time. "I wouldn’t know what the f--- to do and that’s why, when I get older, I’m like, ‘Man, my mom was awesome. I was like f---, she really loves me, like d--n, like f---, that was like rough."
"She kept telling me ‘Dad’s at work, coming home,’ whatever. I had no idea."
His mom told him he was grounded and not allowed to watch TV, but he said he turned it on one night, "and I just saw my dad on TV … And they’re like ‘these are all the firemen that are like dead and all that s---."
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One thing that Davidson said frustrates him about social media is people who aren’t personally connected to the tragedy often use it as a meme.
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"It’s this weird thing that happens in our country where a tragedy over time becomes a holiday," he told the Post. "And then sometimes I know the youth on the internet uses 9/11 memes as jokes. Someone will be like, ‘This song’s fire,’ and then they’ll post the towers … and we’re the ones that have to see that s--- all the time," he said.
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"And it’s very nice that people that have nothing to do with it post a photo on that day, and they’ll never forget," he added. "But it’s also like, you guys have no f---ing idea, actually."
