The wild lengths Saturday Night Live went to keep Taylor Swift’s cameo secret have been revealed.
Swift appeared in the opening monologue delivered by her friend, actress Dakota Johnson, who hosted Saturday’s episode of the iconic sketch comedy show. Johnson has previously hosted SNL in 2015 and 2024.
The billionaire “Blank Space” singer made a surprise cameo when Johnson joked about her own history of dating musicians, including Role Model and her engagement to Coldplay’s Chris Martin.
“I went through two very public, very lame breakups with two very awesome musicians,” Johnson said in her monologue, before plugging her new movie Verity, saying the “psycho-sexual erotic thriller” is similar to her history of dating musicians.
“Some people leave concerts with merch, and I leave concerts with a two-and-a-half-year relationship,” Johnson joked, before saying her friends are “actually really supportive” of her dating musicians.
She then said, “Ladies and gentlemen, my literal therapist,” as Swift came on stage.
However, in rehearsals, SNL cast member Sarah Sherman played the role of Johnson’s friend, according to LateNighter, so the studio audience had no idea the superstar was set to make a cameo. The screams when Swift appeared on stage suggest it was a genuine surprise.
Sherman delivered the exact same lines Swift would later read, which included the singer telling Johnson, “I’m not your therapist, actually. You just show up once a week at my house with an empty bottle of wine and ask if I want some.”
The monologue also had Swift say that after Johnson overstayed her welcome, “I give you a Pedialyte and my security drives you home.”
Johnson returned to her original topic of romancing musicians, stating, “I am actually doing a public service by dating them because, ladies, I am saving you a lot of money on Zoloft,” she said. “You’re welcome, America. And also England. And parts of Ireland. And Cleveland, allegedly,” she added, winking at the camera.
That was seemingly a reference to Johnson’s rumored new musician boyfriend, Machine Gun Kelly, who considers Cleveland to be his hometown.
Coincidentally, Cleveland is also the hometown of Swift’s husband, Travis Kelce, and the title of one of her freshly released songs from The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore.
Johnson also stars in Swift’s new music video, “Patient Zero,” alongside actor Colin Farrell; Swift also wrote and directed the music clip.
The Fifty Shades of Grey star presented Swift with the VMAs’ first-ever Artist Director Honors last week.
