This Taylor Swift on ‘Ellen’ moment has resurfaced on TikTok and it’s making everyone cringe

An awkward interview clip of Taylor Swift on Ellen has gone viral via #SwiftTok, and fans are horrified at the pop-country queen's expense. 

Host Ellen DeGeneres used the singer's 2013 appearance on her talk show to needle the songstress about her love life rather than her new album, and it's gaining traction behind those infamous Dakota Johnson memes. (More about that later.) 

TikTok user @nyajohnsoon uploaded the eight-year-old video with the caption: "Do u think Ellen thrives off of making guests uncomfortable?" (Spoiler: it's very possible.) In it, we see DeGeneres incessantly question Swift about her non-existent relationship with Zac Efron. The first mention or two didn't seem to bother the Grammy-award-winning singer, but after a while, the joke became stale...and uncomfortable—even for viewers. 

Efron was one of many fellas DeGeneres wanted to discuss. She was dying to know who Swift's new song at the time, "We Are Never Getting Back Together," was written about. To uncover the info, she decided to post photos on the screen of Swift with different men—from Taylor Lautner to Danny DeVito—and asked the singer to ring a bell with her top three selections so the audience could narrow down the answers from those three rings. Yikes!

Was it funny, or kind of malicious on DeGeneres' part? One million likes, 16,000 comments and 13,000 shares later, users are insisting that the whole thing was degrading and totally unnecessary. Have a look below and decide for yourself. 

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Taylor Swift on Ellen DeGeneres' talk show in 2013

TikTok user @nyajohnsoon captioned the video: "SOMEONE WHO DESERVES AN APOLOGY: Talk Show edition." Do you agree? Was this interview all in good fun or actually something darker?

@nyajohnsoon

Do u think Ellen thrives off of making guest uncomfortable? #fypシ #taylorswift #swifttok #ellendegeneres #xyzbca #deservesbetter

♬ Night Trouble - Petit Biscuit

In the wake of the Britney Spears conservatorship, stars' embarrassing Q+As resurfaced to exploit the media's unfair treatment of the stars, some of whom were struggling with mental health issues.

Spears' talk with Diane Sawyer, who blamed the "Baby One More Time" singer for her breakup with Justin Timberlake, went viral, as did Lindsay Lohan's David Letterman interview in which he asked about a forthcoming rehab stay. 

It begs the question if this type of entertainment is really in plain fun or if it is meant to portray the subjects in a negative light. Is the media unfair to women in the music and movie industries? These videos seem to suggest it. 

That Ellen DeGeneres and Dakota Johnson interview

Swift's cringe-worthy cameo comes on the heels of the resurgence of the Dakota Johnson memes. You know the ones. In November 2019, Dakota Johnson stopped by The Ellen DeGeneres Show to promote her movies Suspiria and Bad Times at the El Royale, but instead, she got the internet's attention for standing up to the host who claimed the actress didn't invite her to her 30th birthday party.

"Actually no. That’s not the truth, Ellen. You were invited," Johnson said. "Last time I was on the show last year, you gave me a bunch of shit about not inviting you, but I didn’t even know you wanted to be invited. I didn’t even know you liked me!”

When the controversial talk show host revealed that she was ending her nearly 20-year stint, people replied to the news with pictures and memes of Johnson, suggesting this clapback heard around the world was the real reason for her departure, though abuse allegations ultimately led to the show's demise.

Regardless of thoughts about each of these Q+As, we can all agree that there is definitely a significant cringe factor for both of them.