This year saw quite arguably the unexpected New Year’s Eve gathering: Kanye West (now legally known as Ye) and Pete Davidson rung in 2023 on opposing sides of LA — a pretty big deal considering their entangled pasts related to Kim Kardashian, now affectionately referred to as “Kiki” among fans.
It’s pretty well documented by now that Kimye’s rollercoaster relationship involved everyone’s current “favorite former item”: Pete Davidson. Kanye and Kim finalized their divorce last month, making things a tad different going into the new year – and Pete made 2023 less a “fresh start” after splitting from reality TV royalty this Summer..
But let’s backtrack for a second! Back in Fall 2021, Ye publicly expressed his feelings about Kardashian dating Davidson and even dropped lines dissing the comedian in tracks. Remember those viral moments? Things even spilled over to social media with some seriously heated exchanges that had the internet buzzing constantly.
Now, flash forward through a flurry of headlines (Kanye getting legally named “Ye”, their divorce concluding) – we have everyone observing, wondering – is Pete Davidson truly avoiding Kanye West like he once made lighthearted remarks about? And how is Kim navigating this new wave of her personal life in light of Ye moving to LA to raise his kids alongside Kourtney’s sisters? There’s certainly some drama brewing…
So this Yeezy VS D-Lister New Year’s Eve meet up without Kiki creates a whole new level of entertainment narrative. Look, on one hand, some fans (and I’d include a good portion who never wanted a #Kimye reconciliation) see this as harmless cosmic irony.
They’re like, “Kanye can still rage against D-List Hollywood and here’s Pete happily coasting – isn’t that what karma looks like?” Evidence? Check how Ye was blasting Kim dating anyone before his ex publicly stating she liked Davidson less than 1 year into their short-lived romance. To some, the lack of Kim’s presence here signifies an “I don’t really need you guys” vibe for Kiki – just a normal person living HER life now.
From a marketing standpoint? Smart move for both men. Ye knows headlines come regardless; his music still streams, even when news is about Pete’s antics more than his output (a whole thread another time). Conversely, Pete’s career has relied on comedic “outsider” vibes – this plays right in by showing him cool AND collected, unaffected by anything Kanye does. Win-win PR move! Some say it’s just them being aware that Kim moves things to protect family image and they just doing “us vs you”.
But here comes the BUT. A bigger slice argues that separating Pete and Kanye as separate entities in THIS situation doesn’t help the narrative. The focus SHOULD be less, “Oh look who’s winning famewise” because, let’s face IT: THIS is all tangled around an actual REAL PERSON – Kim – whose happiness often gets overshadowed by these two powerful men playing public chess ♟ This isn’t TMZ fodder – her privacy matters far more than how any ex is “winning”!
From a social good standpoint (always need balance in entertainment analysis!), people need to start valuing genuine relationships over this spectacle. When are fans finally allowed normalcy?
Kim’s absence from their NYC encounter isn’t about proving anything, it’s probably just her wanting those new beginnings actually BE a time for self reflection, not this public sideshow that perpetuates negativity. She deserves privacy in charting HER journey!
Our deep dive into Kanye and Pete’s New Year’s Eve overlap in LA unraveled some complex layers. While many viewed it as harmless irony – “Pete chill, Kanye raging” – this situation emphasizes how Kim’s own journey gets hijacked by public spectacles often involving her divorced husbands. She deserves privacy as she finds her footing after all the whirlwind, not to be further framed in comparison games driven both sides of the men involved for PR purposes (smart PR or not).
Look, social media often frames this as some harmless battle-royale. Yet, at its core, Kim’s happiness shouldn’t become a punchline in narratives orchestrated by Ye or Pete, irrespective of if they’re actually competing with each other. The real loss here isn’t one man getting “overshadowed” – it’s about us as fans needing to unlearn constantly feeding into drama at the cost of genuine reflection over whose happiness wins in an equation that never truly ends well. Kim, being a woman balancing these two heavy public personas, is lost in this narrative often… when she deserves center-stage for how she’s reclaiming control now, regardless of where her exes spend their holidays.
What happens to Kim after this initial phase: can she curate an existence free of such narratives? Is there truly a media strategy that respects boundary lines and allows individual growth when tied at the hip by PR stunt-fueled drama like this? Maybe that’s the next chapter worth paying attention to – where does this dynamic actually leave each of them, not in clicks but human experience?