Pete Davidson’s tattoos were never a neat, coordinated collection. They mixed jokes, pop culture, lettering and relationship references, with some pieces added quickly enough that the circumstances became part of their story. For years, photos showed a dense patchwork across his chest, arms, hands and neck. More recently, laser removal has changed the picture, so dates matter as much as design names.
Davidson has explained some choices himself. On Fresh Air, he told the story of getting a Game of Thrones tattoo while watching the show. Later interviews and reports covered why he began removing much of the ink. A careful inventory keeps his own explanations separate from what a photograph only seems to show.
The shark became the most recognisable piece on his chest
The shark works both as an image and as a cover-up. Its open mouth and heavy outline take over the chest and change how the older ink underneath appears. In photos, the red mouth draws the eye first, while the black-and-grey work around it makes the whole area feel crowded. The shark is a headline image, even though it is only one piece in a much larger collection.
Its position tells readers something practical about Davidson’s tattoo history. A large chest design can cover an earlier phrase without removing that decision from the record. The shark is what is visible now; the old tattoo helps explain why the area looks so dense. Those facts should not be blurred into a claim that both designs carried the same meaning.
A large shark is one of the clearest anchors in photos from Davidson’s tattooed years. It spans the chest and appears beside smaller illustrations, words and symbols. Reports have also connected it to a cover-up, which gives the design a history beyond that of a random animal in the middle of a crowded torso.
The shark’s blunt outline suits Davidson’s earlier approach to tattoos. Its mouth gives it energy, and its size keeps it visible even in a wide shot. That matters because smaller marks can disappear when a photograph is cropped for a news story or television appearance.
Still, the shark should not stand in for all of Davidson’s ink. It is one design among many, and the surrounding tattoos arrived at different times. They do not automatically share its story. A useful guide can give the shark its own space, then move on to the lettering and pop-culture pieces.
SHAOLIN and GOON show how much lettering filled the map
SHAOLIN sits lower on Davidson’s torso, while the shorter GOON lettering is higher on his chest. SHAOLIN runs across a wider area; GOON reads more like a compact label. From straight on, the words can look like one band of text, but they are separate tattoos in different positions. Naming both makes the tattoo inventory more useful than calling the area general chest lettering.
Numbers, script and small drawings nearby add texture, but do not all have a documented explanation. Some have been linked to family, friends or entertainment, yet a soft photo cannot settle every attribution. The grounded description is the visible wording and placement, with Davidson’s own comments supplying context when available.
Photos of his torso show the bold words SHAOLIN and GOON. The lettering is not just filler around the shark; it is part of a visual mix that places plain words beside cartoons, skulls and small personal symbols.
Lettering can be identified without a specialist interpretation. A guide can name each word, describe where it sits and show the photograph without claiming that every phrase is a lifelong motto. Some designs began as jokes or impulses; others were later covered or removed.
That changing record matters when comparing old and new photos. A 2020 image may show a word clearly, while a later appearance shows fading, cover-up work or bare skin. Both tell us what the collection looked like at different times. A dated photo is not a current inventory.
Pop-culture tattoos came from the way Davidson watched and joked
Davidson’s pop-culture tattoos are easiest to describe when their subject is clear. A character, film reference or comedy image can be named without turning it into a grand statement about his personality. Often, the joke is the point. That tone sits beside larger memorial and relationship designs.
The photos show these designs competing for space. A cartoon or emblem may sit beside lettering, a skull or a line drawing, making the torso look more like a sketchbook than one coordinated sleeve. The useful detail is the individual motif, where it appears on the body and whether it can be seen in the photograph being used.
On Fresh Air, Davidson said he got a Game of Thrones tattoo while watching the series. His story makes it sound like a decision made in the moment, rather than the result of a formal design process. It belongs with the pop-culture side of his tattoo history, which also included film and television references.
That anecdote does not tell us which other tattoos were done during a particular episode or night. It supports one specific story. The rest need to come from clear photos or reporting that names the design. With a collection this large, it is easy to attach an unverified origin to a mark.
The variety is part of the look. A TV reference can sit beside a skull, a word or a rough cartoon without matching one style. The body reads like an archive of things Davidson found funny, memorable or worth carrying for a while.
Relationship tribute tattoos changed as the relationships changed
Relationship tattoos need their own section because several widely reported pieces were later covered, altered or removed. A matching design can be placed in a particular relationship period without suggesting it remains unchanged today. That distinction preserves the timeline and explains why older photographs show more lettering than later ones.
The later changes are part of the visual record. Cover-ups can make old designs harder to identify, while fading and laser work may leave partial outlines that look like new ink. When a photo is unclear, the article can name a reported tribute and describe what is currently visible instead of guessing at what lies beneath it.
Reports about Davidson’s relationships have also documented tattoos and marks connected with partners. Some appeared as initials, phrases or designs tied to a shared joke. Coverage of his relationship with Kim Kardashian discussed Jasmine, the phrase My girl is a lawyer and a branding mark described differently from an ordinary tattoo.
That distinction matters. A branded mark is not the same as a tattoo, even if it appears on skin. And a tattoo made during a relationship does not prove its wearer meant to make a permanent promise. Davidson’s later removal process shows how the emotional context of an image can change.
It is best to name a design only when a source does and avoid treating the relationship as the tattoo’s entire meaning. A photograph can show placement and wording; an interview can add context. Neither turns a public romance into a private psychological diagnosis.
Removal is now part of the tattoo story
Removal changes how a photograph should be read without making the image useless. A chest photo from the heavily tattooed period documents designs that may no longer look the same, while a later one records the effort to clear space. Davidson has described the pain, cost and length of the laser process, so the timeline belongs beside the tattoo inventory instead of a separate celebrity-news aside.
For anyone comparing pictures, lighting and distance matter. Faded black ink may disappear in one frame and show up in another, while a cover-up can look like a solid shape from across a room. A careful guide ties the shark, lettering, pop-culture marks and relationship designs to dated images, and labels what comes from reporting rather than a clear photograph.
Davidson began removing many tattoos in 2020. Later reports described the process as lengthy, expensive and physically unpleasant. El País reported his explanation that the ink had become a reminder of an earlier part of his life. Other coverage described the number of sessions involved and how some designs would take longer to fade than others.
That means a current guide cannot simply reuse a famous old tattoo list. The shark may be clear in one appearance while lettering has faded in another. Hands, neck and arms may show the process differently from the torso. Readers need to know whether an image comes from the dense-ink period or documents removal.
Davidson’s tattoo history is a record of choices, jokes, attachments and revisions, not a fixed catalogue. The most useful details are the designs that can be named, the stories he has told and the changes visible across dated photos. Anything else should remain uncertain rather than be presented as fact.
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