Saturday Night Live comedian Pete Davidson has been vocal about his distaste for the city of Syracuse. Now the district attorney for the county of Onondaga, which encompasses Syracuse, appears to be out for revenge.
Davidson was in Syracuse over the summer to film Big Time Adolescence. In August, he was pulled over by Manlius Police in Fayetteville (which is part of the Syracuse metropolitan area) for unknown traffic and vehicle violations. Joey Gay, a fellow comedian and a passenger in the car, was found to be in possession of marijuana. Davidson was not charged with any crime, though Gay eventually pleaded guilty and settled the case by paying $225 in fines.
But the whole experience apparently left a bad taste in Davidson’s mouth. “Syracuse, you know, it’s trash,” he told shock jock Howard Stern in September. “Worse than Staten Island. The nicest hotel in Syracuse is, like, a fucking Ramada.”
Davidson repeated his criticism in an interview with Variety published yesterday. “The whole town of Syracuse blows. Let’s be honest, they just found out I was there and tried to arrest me the whole time,” he said.
“The cops, because there’s nothing going on there, they were hunting me down the whole time,” he added to Variety. “They tried to arrest me for bringing business to your town. Never again, Syracuse.”
It’s impossible to know if law enforcement was really targeting Davidson. But if they weren’t at the time, then they might be now. “Quite frankly, I’d be as likely to take tourism advice from [him] as I would to be taking marriage counseling from O.J. Simpson,” Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick told CNYCentral yesterday in response to Davidson’s latest comments. “However, I am going to ask Manlius Police to look into the charges that were brought against Mr. Davidson and see if they can’t be reopened. And then we’ll see how much he really likes Syracuse.”
On the whole, this seems rather petty of Fitzpatrick. It’s not exactly clear whether he’s referring to the weed charges or the traffic violations, and it’s hard to tell whether this is a vague threat or something more serious. (Fitzpatrick has yet to respond to Reason‘s request for comment, though I will update this post if he does.) Manlius Police Captain Kevin Schafer, meanwhile, denied the targeting allegations, telling Syracuse.com: “When we stop a vehicle, we don’t know who’s in it.”
Either way, Fitzpatrick likely wouldn’t be making this threat unless Davidson had spoken out against Syracuse. The comedian’s words were harsh, but they were just that—words. It’s completely inappropriate for a district attorney to threaten someone—well-known or not—because he said some mean things.
Fitzpatrick appears to be out for revenge, plain and simple. Hopefully, he’ll reconsider.
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