As If We Didn’t Love Him Enough Already, the Duke Defended Taylor Swift on ‘SNL’

Will Heath, NBC

No one was expecting Olivia Rodrigo's "Drivers License" to be the driving force of a Saturday Night Live sketch, especially one featuring a group of tough guys (and Kate McKinnon playing a tender old man) debating the song's creative throughline. But it happened, and it was beautifully hilarious. When Pete Davidson's character dared to bring Taylor Swift into the argument—"the verses are starting to say: Taylor?"—guest host Regé-Jean Page of Bridgerton fame had to step in to give his two cents.

"Obviously it's Taylor Swift. Taylor is the rule," Page's character retorted. "But It's also pure Olivia, man."

For a minute Taylor dipped from the conversation, but when Page said, "If Olivia taught us anything it's that pain can be creatively generative," to which Davidson responded, "I said it once, I'll say it again: Taylor," we got an absolute gem of a defense from Page.

"Yeah, but Taylor shifted away from the autobiographical and now she's in the pocket creatively. Look at Folklore, man. Ultimately, she's a fricken' storyteller," Page said. Snaps for the Duke.

"Yeah but I still feel it's Taylor. You got a problem?" Davidson threatened, to which Page came back with, "With you being purposely reductive? Yeah, I got a problem."

We, and the rest of Swifties, would like to recruit both Page and whoever wrote this sketch into the Swift army. We need, want, and love fighters like you.

And all of the sudden, we understand ourselves so much better.

Yes, we love the idea of these "manly men" shooting pool and weeping to "Drivers License." But man do we feel something about the Duke of Hastings defending Taylor Swift and praising her latest era of creative genius.

Google, how can we attach a video to a dream board?