Can We Revisit This Taylor Swift Interview That Unfairly Calls Out How Many Men She's Dated?

Can We Revisit This Taylor Swift Interview That Unfairly Calls Out How Many Men She's Dated?
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Can We Revisit This Taylor Swift Interview That Unfairly Calls Out How Many Men She's Dated?

Swift has been getting misogynistic remarks for years, and it's time for it to stop.

After revisiting old interviews of Britney Spears, Jennifer Aniston, and Paris Hilton, we're coming to terms with how inappropriate interviews have been toward celebrity women. Another one we want to call out: this traumatic interview experience with Taylor Swift from 2013.

During Swift's guest appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, DeGeneres begins the interview by constantly talking over Swift and insisting to her that she and actor Zac Efron were dating. Following the awkward accusation, an old clip of Efron and Swift's appearance on the show began to play, and Swift ironically sang about how DeGeneres frequently asks about her dating history and even mentioning that "it gets five million hits on YouTube."

After the brief clip played, DeGeneres quickly returned to grilling Swift about her relationship with Efron, which Swift repeatedly states never existed beyond friends. It's clear that Swift is visibly uncomfortable with the constant questions, so DeGeneres changes the topic to Swift's new single, "We Are Never Getting Back Together." However, DeGeneres only further pushes Swift out of her comfort zone by introducing a game that is meant to ask Swift who her single is about.

The host hands Swift a bell to ring whenever a man that she's been romantically involved with pops up onto the screen, which is in no way, shape, or form funny.

"I don't know if I'm going to do this. This is the one thing I have," Swift says. "It's like the one shred of dignity that I have. People go and make guesses about it, and the only thing that I have is that one card."

DeGeneres continues her questionable joke by showing slides of Taylor Lautner, Danny Devito, John Mayer, Justin Bieber, Joe Jonas, Justin Timberlake, Ashton Kutcher, Cory Monteith, and Rob Lowe. Swift pleads with DeGeneres to stop the game, saying this may result in her receiving "angry emails" from an unknown source. By the end of the game, Swift angrily tells DeGeneres to stop, but it's obvious that she's been playing along to avoid being criticized further.

"This makes me feel so bad about myself," Swift said. "Every time I come up here, you put a different dude on the screen, and it makes me really question what I stand for as a human being. There's never been two guys on the screen two visits in a row. It's sad."

Instead of comforting Swift or apologizing, DeGeneres laughs and proceeds to move on from the inappropriate moment, further shaming her for simply being a woman who dates. In the comment section of the YouTube clip, there are several viewers defending Swift and condemning DeGeneres' actions.

One commenter said, "Why is this not being considered as bullying in a serious way?"

"It makes me sad, celebrities need their privacy too. Not everything in their lives need to be broadcasted on social media. Taylor is clearly uncomfortable here and Ellen should have respected her privacy," said another.

Swift was mocked and belittled for her dating history throughout a majority of her career, and it is cruel that she was the center of misogynist jokes for at least a decade. Though we might have thought the jokes were gone by now, Netflix's new original series Ginny & Georgia brought it all back. Swift called out the show on Twitter today for incorporating a sexist joke into the script.

In response, Swift tweeted, "Hey Ginny & Georgia, 2010 called and it wants its lazy, deeply sexist joke back. How about we stop degrading hard working women by defining this horse shit as FuNnY. Also,@netflix after Miss Americana this outfit doesn't look cute on you Broken heart Happy Women's History Month I guess."

Celebrity women, like Swift, deserve to have their peace. Male celebrities do not receive the same energy concerning the scope of their romantic life, like their female counterparts. This behavior by DeGeneres, Netflix, and anyone else responsible was never okay, and it needs to be addressed.