PETA barks at Pete Davidson for buying dog at pet shop

PETA has a bone to pick with Pete Davidson. The organization, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, has criticized the "Bupkis" actor for getting a dog at a store instead of a shelter.

The rebuke comes after Davidson and girlfriend Chase Sui Wonders picked up a cavapoo puppy from New York City's Citipups last month, as TMZ reported on Monday.

"It's tragic that Pete didn't seek out a borough-born mutt from a city animal shelter, because a scrappy New Yorker with charm, personality, and unconventional handsomeness could have been his perfect match," Daphna Nachminovitch, Senior VP of Cruelty Investigations at PETA, told the site.

Nachminovitch added, "Since shelters in New York and across the country are overflowing with homeless animals, PETA urges Pete to show some big heart energy by adopting, not shopping, in the future."

Pete Davidson is pictured at Allegiant Stadium on Feb. 5, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

A source close to Davidson told TMZ that the former "Saturday Night Live" cast member got the dog for his mother after the recent death of her previous pooch.

Davidson, 29, previously got praise from PETA in 2018 for a "SNL" skit about lobsters being cooked, and the group commended him again in 2021 for the "Hunt Mushrooms, Not Animals" T-shirt he wore in the film "The King of Staten Island."

But after this year's Super Bowl, PETA dinged Davidson, Jon Hamm, and Brie Larson for appearing in ads that "shilled for the cruel — as well as environmentally devastating and unhealthy—meat, egg, and dairy industries." (The three actors appeared together in a Super Bowl commercial for Hellmann's mayonnaise.)

Davidson isn't the only celeb PETA has called out for buying a pet. In 2019, for instance, the organization denounced Justin Bieber for buying two exotic cats for $35,000 instead of adopting. Bieber clapped back on Instagram, telling PETA to "suck it" and "focus on real problems," as Insider reported at the time.