WATCH: Vinnie Brand versus Pete Davidson
Comedian Vinnie Brand owns and operates the Stress Factory, which has locations in New Brunswick, NJ and Bridgeport, CT. After a recent no-show at the one in Connecticut, comedian and SNL star Pete Davidson went to war with our old friend, Vinnie, and to be honest, it looks like he is striking back. Apparently (according to Pete), Vinnie made references to Kate Beckinsale and Ariana Grande while warming up the crowd. Pete found that introduction to be “disrespectful” and left the venue. He immediately put an apology video on Instagram, promising to make it up to the crowd with a free show sometime soon.
Once that was posted online, Vinnie came back on stage to play the message to the crowd who, by the way, all had their cell phones away per the request of the talent and the venue. Then this happened:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zn8Cpz9UyDU
In his rant, Vinnie says that he and Pete have been friends for a long time and that he reached out to Pete when he was going through a lot of difficult times over the last year or two.
It’s true. We dug up this post from 2016 when Pete was on stage at the Stress Factory in New Jersey. In the caption Vinnie proudly wrote, “@petedavidson owns the stage.”
Something seemed off; we know Vinnie, he is highly respected in the comedy inner circle and treats his guests with the same esteem. So we reached out to hear his side of the story:
What we gather after that interview is that Pete’s staff was doing their job and trying to protect him, but the message was not delivered or received correctly (we’re not placing blame on anyone here). The security guard asked Vinnie to make a specific announcement about the Kate and Ariana, Vinnie obliged and laid down the law. When Pete heard it though, he got upset and that’s where the problem began. There was no disrespect, just a miscommunication.
“I have long relationships with comics because I don’t do that.”
Vinnie was fired up on stage because he had a club full of patrons on a Monday night who were getting stood up and he had just been called out to 2.4 million people. Vinnie stated that he had no intentions of saying anything publicly until the Instagram post happened.
That moment of anger is gone and now he wants to clear the air. Vinnie has offered to host the make-up show and chip in to make the experience great for everyone.
“If he came back to that club, I won’t even charge people for the food and beverage. [Pete] wants to do the show for free, I’ll do the food and beverage for free. Let people come in and see what you’re really all about cause he really is a good guy.”
What do you say, Pete? Move on from the incident and make up with our mutual friend?
C’mon, he’s such great guy! (Lewis Black even vouched for him at the beginning of our interview today)
Thanks @PrestonSteve933 feel better Preston. Thanks for the hot traffic pic.twitter.com/M6O2Z36pih
— vinnie brand (@Vinnie_Brand) March 16, 2015
How can you be mad at someone who’s friends with Gritty?
