Some regrets are particularly costly – especially when you’re Pete Davidson.
The comedian, 29, has admitted he has major regrets about buying a decommissioned Staten Island ferry while he was stoned with his former Saturday Night Live co-star Colin Jost, 41.
Speaking to Entertainment Tonight on Monday, Pete gave fans an update on the pair’s January 2022 splurge.
‘I have no idea what’s going on with that thing,’ he said at the Transformers: Rise of the Beasts premiere in New York.
‘Me and Colin were very stoned a year ago and bought a ferry. And we’re figuring it out.’
Comedians Pete Davidson, 28, (left) and Colin Jost, 40, (right) bought the retired Staten Island ferry in the hopes of turning it into a floating night club
Pete joked that he would host an after party for his latest film on the bright orange boat, ‘if it’s not sunk!’
‘Hopefully it turns into a Transformer and gets the f— out of there, so I can stop paying for it!’ said Pete, who voices the character Mirage in the latest Transformers film.
Pete and Colin, as well as comedy club owner Paul Italia, bought the ferry when it was auctioned off by New York City’s Department of Citywide Administrative Services.
The ferry, named the John F. Kennedy, took commuters between Manhattan and Staten Island from 1965 until 2021.
At the time of their purchase, the comedians, who are both from Staten Island, said the plan was to turn the 277-foot vessel into a New York City club.
But those plans quickly encountered obstacles, when the ferry’s former captain, Kevin Hennessey, told the New York Daily News it would likely cost Pete and Colin millions to renovate the ferry.
Hennessey said the boat’s engine was also compromised by a fire that broke out in the machine room just after the ferry was decommissioned and before the comedians purchased it.
Jost and Davidson bought the ferry – the MV John F. Kennedy – with comedy club owner Paul Italia last year for $280,000
Pete and Colin are both from Staten Island
He added that the toxic asbestos lining the walls of the ferry, which ‘was a common building material’ in 1965, would be one of the biggest complications the ferry project would face.
‘As time went by and pipes and wires rot, the asbestos paneling was busted open and patched,’ he said. ‘It’s generally harmless until you grind it or drill into it.’
He said roach infestations are common on the Staten Island ferries, but that the John F. Kennedy always had a particularly rampant problem.
Another ferry worker said that roaches thrived in compartments under the boat’s seats where life jackets were stored.
‘People are lazy and like to dump their trash in those,’ the worker said.
Ferry workers told the Daily News that they estimated renovations could be in the millions, and that Pete and Colin had a good idea but were out of their depth.
‘I wish these guys luck with the project, but they’re going to need some help,’ Hennessey said.
At the time, Italia called Hennessey’s ᴀssessment of the ferry’s state ‘garbage information,’ and said plans for the ferry’s future would be announced by year’s end.
