University of Central Florida students who attended Monday's free comedy show featuring "Saturday Night Live" comedian Pete Davidson said his rant about cellphone usage during the show made things awkward.
Davidson, who was one of three comedians to perform, blasted the crowed about halfway through his performance for using their cellphones during the show to film him.
In an expletive-laden rant he called the crowd of students "privileged" and "idiots." He told them "don't ruin the show" for people "who actually want to be here" by recording it.
"It says 'no phones,' it says a thing on there, you're supposed to just like behave," Davidson said. "I need to have my boy patrol you guys like you're 12 years old? That's (expletive) embarrassing."
Students who were at the show said they were caught off-guard.
"Me and my friend we turned to each other and was like, 'Wait, he’s being serious right now?'" said UCF sophomore Kelly Drisco. "It went a little bit too far."
Many students said the mood turned a bit sour and things became awkward after Davidson's rant.
"I wasn’t surprised that he said something, but he did kind of go off," UCF freshman Magerri Grant said.
Josh Furse was in the crowd and agreed Davidson might have gone too far. He said Davidson ended his show with an apology.
"When we found out he wasn’t kidding, and it was really awkward for a while, and then he kind of pulled everybody back, and he apologized," Furse said. "He felt bad about it."
Davidson did not return a request for comment on this story.
A UCF spokesperson said in a statement Tuesday, "Mr. Davidson’s abusive language, particularly his use of a derogatory slur, is contrary to the University of Central Florida’s values of inclusion and respect for all. It’s disappointing that his rant spoiled an event that was meant to welcome students back for the fall semester.”