Pete Davidson to keep Hillary Clinton tattoo as he removes the rest

Pete Davidson is lasering off most of his tattoos, but one is staying: the portrait of Hillary Clinton on his right leg.

The former “Saturday Night Live” cast member said in an interview with Variety, that he is removing the ink for three reasons. He called many of the tattoos poor quality, said covering them in the makeup trailer for hours before shoots had become a business problem and said he no longer identifies with the person who got them. Mr. Davidson said he got many of them during a period of intense pain, and he acknowledged that some were used to cover scars from past self-harm.

The Clinton tattoo is the exception. “She stays. That’s my dog. I love Hillary, man,” Mr. Davidson said of the image, which shows the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee in a power suit.

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Mr. Davidson revealed the tattoo in December 2017, calling Ms. Clinton his hero in an Instagram post. Tattoo artist Jon Mesa confirmed it was real and permanent. Ms. Clinton replied online that the gesture made things “significantly less awkward,” joking that she had long had a Pete Davidson tattoo of her own.

It is not the first time he has said the tattoo will stay. On The Breakfast Club radio show in August 2025, Mr. Davidson said “Hillary stays” and recalled that Ms. Clinton had reached out to ask whether she was being removed. He said he began the removal process in 2020. In that interview he described his tattoos as drug-fueled and said he reconsidered them when he saw himself sober in rehab.

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