Taylor Swift and Zac Efron quietly called out Ellen years before her toxic workplace allegations
During their appearance on 'The Ellen DeGeneres Show' in 2012, Zac Efron and Taylor Swift made a bold move— to sing an original diss track to DeGeneres' face. As per Unilad, the duo called out the host even before the accusations of 'toxic work culture' surfaced. Their hard-hitting lyrics went, "Ellen works a long day. Giving weird interviews in a slick, cool sweater. And it gets kinda weird. Yeah, calling us like we're boyfriend and girlfriend. But it's not cause we're just sitting here."
Swift and Efron's chorus pointed at DeGeneres' invasive inquiries and intimidating interview tactics that cross boundaries in the name of entertainment. The 'Love Story' singer even sang about the time DeGeneres played a scary bathroom prank on her. She sang, "Ellen hiding in the bathroom with a hidden camera and she scared me so bad and I fell and I could've died." Slamming the television host for violating her personal space, Swift further sang, "She always asks me who I'm dating. Every time I'm on this show. And I don't even know why. But it gets five million hits on YouTube."
Zac Efron and Taylor Swift brilliantly calling out Ellen cleverly and in a funny way by song during a visit on her own show
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Fans were thrilled with the impromptu number, loved Efron and Swift's chemistry, and enjoyed watching DeGeneres turn chalk white. "Too bad they never did an official collab or performed it at one of her shows," a fan gushed about the duo on a Reddit thread. "Ellen had a death grip on that chair. I think she was imagining strangling them both," another noted.
"Oof! Ellen really didn't do a good job of pretending to enjoy that," another echoed. "I could literally see the rage in her eyes halfway through," agreed another. In a similar vein, a comment also read, "Funny she couldn't do or say anything about it since Taylor Swift and Zac Efron are bigger stars and she had to just sit there and take it." However, the following year, having not learned her lesson, DeGeneres grilled Swift about her relationship with Efron. The veteran comedian made Swift visibly uncomfortable as she persistently implied she was dating the 'Baywatch' actor.
"You were here with your boyfriend Zac Efron last time how's he doing?" DeGeneres asked. "We actually never dated," Swift shot back. As per Pop Crush, undeterred, DeGeneres played a slideshow of famous men from the entertainment industry and asked her to ring the bell if she spotted any of her exes among them. "Stop! This makes me feel so bad about myself every time you put like, a different dude up there on the screen and it just makes me really question what I stand for as a human being," Swift responded. Netizens too weren't happy and accused DeGeneres of 'gaslighting'. The coveted show came to an end in May 2022 in the face of mounting allegations of mistreatment of guests and staff.