Mariska Hargitay was this year’s Emmys host. While I thought many of Mariska’s skits and jokes fell flat, I admire the way she threw herself into hosting and she genuinely looked like she was having a ball. One of the few Emmy bits to really land, in my opinion, was the Law & Order: SVU skit with Taylor Swift. Mariska and Taylor are friends in real life, Taylor is a well-known devotee of L&O: SVU, and Taylor famously named one of her kitties after Mariska’s character Olivia Benson. I know that Taylor was geeking out hard on the SVU set. Well, Ice-T has also been on SVU for decades, and he took part in the skit. Ice-T told Page Six that producers kept everyone in the dark about Taylor’s appearance, but once she was on set, she couldn’t have been nicer. She even brought cookies.
Taylor Swift’s surprise Emmys sketch was a case so confidential, not even the “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” squad could crack it before they arrived on set. Ice-T, who has appeared on the NBC crime show since 2000 as Fin Tutuola, told Page Six the cast was asked to shoot a skit on Sunday for the Mariska Hargitay-hosted awards show, but producers made it clear the gig was “top secret.”
“I had no idea what it was,” Ice-T, 68, said. “And then when we got there, Taylor Swift was there.”
He explained the cast was instructed not to tell anyone about Swift’s involvement, as a leak would have ruined the moment for viewers at home. Ice-T claimed Swift, 36, was a true professional as she recited her lines for the cameras — but another highlight was the presents the amateur baker handed out after the cameras stopped rolling.
“I got some cookies,” the actor and musician said. “I didn’t eat them yet. They’re in my dressing room. I don’t even know, should I eat them? Should I save them? Should I keep them as a memento?”
He praised Swift for chatting with the whole cast while on set, and said he was able to connect with her “on a musician vibe.”
“I could tell after meeting her, she’s a very focused and professional person. Like anything she’s going to do, she’s going to do it to the fullest, and she handled it like a champ,” Ice-T added.
The skit turned the “SVU” cast into full-blown Swifties, with Hargitay’s Olivia Benson leading a brainstorming session on whether Travis Kelce’s wife would attend Monday’s awards show after her own nominations for the “Eras Tour” were handled at the Creative Emmys earlier in the month. Swift and her real-life cat, named after Hargitay’s character, then entered the discussion, and she poked some fun at herself in the process with jokes like, “She’s probably going to be at home playing with those cats she’s named after TV characters.”
After Hargitay’s Benson concluded Swift would likely be at Arrowhead Stadium to watch Kelce’s Kansas City Chiefs take on the Denver Broncos on Monday Night Football instead, Ice-T’s Tutuola delivered a silly response.
“Well if she’s not there, I’m not watching,” he said with a straight face.
Ice-T, who recently dropped his new “Criminal Migraine” album in August, said Swift would “absolutely” be welcomed back to set with open arms.
Considering how many celebrities/actors have done guest spots on SVU (and the original L&O), it’s actually surprising that Taylor hasn’t appeared before now. Like, on the actual show. Maybe she was offered a role and she didn’t want to play a predator! Or a victim. Anyway, I’m sure this was a huge wish-fulfillment for Taylor. And Ice-T should definitely eat the cookies!
Screencaps courtesy of NBC video.
