Saturday Night Live’s Lorne Michaels couldn’t be swayed to cut a sketch about Taylor Swift… even by the princess of pop herself.
In 2015, after the release of her hit song ‘Bad Blood” and it’s accompanying music video — which featured a slew of Swift’s famous friends including Hayley Williams, Gigi Hadid, Selena Gomez, Hailee Steinfeld, Karli Kloss, Lena Dunham, Mariska Hargitay, Ellen Pompeo, Cara Delevigne and Cindy Crawford — Lorne and the writers at SNL created a sketch highlighting the pop star’s so-called “girl squad.”
The sketch centered around a post-apocalyptic world controlled by Swift, 35, and her squad of loyal friends, suggesting that her group of Hollywood A-listers was actually an apocalyptic cult.
According to a new profile on Michaels, 80, in Vulture published on Tuesday, February 11, the SNL creator reached out to Swift to ask if she would be willing to make a cameo appearance in the skit.
“Michaels was in his office when Swift called him directly to say that not only would she not appear in the video, but she wanted Michaels to kill the sketch entirely,” the outlet reports, adding that Michaels allegedly “heard Swift out, but as he did he picked up a piece of popcorn from the basket on his desk.”
“Taylor, I do not negotiate with terrorists,” Michaels reportedly told the singer, before allegedly “tossing the kernel into the air and catching it with his mouth.”
The skit did air, and according to the outlet the following Monday Michaels “found flowers at his office with a note from Swift” that read “I hope there’s no bad blood.”
Swift has a long history with SNL, first appearing as a musical guest in 2009. Later that same year, she returned to host the show, when she famously called out her ex Joe Jonas, alleged boyfriend Taylor Lautner and Kanye West during her “Monologue Song.”
She most recently appeared on October 14, 2023, to introduce musical guest and BFF, Ice Spice.
In 2024, Swift commented on then-host Ryan Gosling’s playful version of her hit song “All Too Well.” During his monologue, Gosling poked fun at his character Ken in 2023’s hit movie Barbie. “Don’t worry, I’m not gonna make any jokes about Ken,” he said at the time. “Because it’s not funny. Ken and I … we had to break up. And for processing a breakup, there’s really only one thing that can help: the music of the great Taylor Swift.”
Swift was apparently pleased with Gosling’s version of her breakup song.
“All Too Well (Ryan and Emily’s Version) !!!” Swift wrote via her Instagram Story on April 14, alongside a clip of Gosling’s performance. “Watch me accidentally catch myself singing this version on tour,” she added. “This monologue is EVERYTHING.”
