Some people wouldn’t think twice about Sabrina Carpenter being paired with Jake Gyllenhaal on an episode of Saturday Night Live. Many Swifties, however, are not those people.
Immediately after NBC’s sketch-comedy series announced Thursday (May 2) that its upcoming season 49 finale would feature the actor as the host alongside the “Espresso” singer as musical guest, fans couldn’t help but draw a pretty glaring connection between the two: Ms. Taylor Swift. That’s because the “Anti-Hero” singer famously dated Gyllenhaal in 2010 and went on to write a number of songs believed to be about the Brokeback Mountain star — most notably, the searing 10-minute ballad “All Too Well” — while Carpenter is a longtime fan of Swift’s.
The Girl Meets World alum also struck up a friendship with the 14-time Grammy winner following her tenure as an opener on the Eras Tour. At one show, she and Swift duetted on “White Horse” and “Coney Island” during the main show, and after Carpenter wrapped her last performance on the trek, she wrote on Instagram, “i will cherish this taybrina era (and all the eras) till the end of time.”
With all that in mind, jokes about Gyllenhaal and Carpenter’s crossover have been aplenty since SNL unveiled its season-ending lineup. Some fans have been coming up with ways the Work It star could purposefully work a Swift reference into one of her famous “Nonsense” outros if she performs the Emails I Can’t Send fan-favorite on the show, while other people have daydreamed about ways Carpenter could hilariously confront Gyllenhaal during the episode, which airs May 18.
“would actually pay millions to see the text chain between taylor swift and sabrina carpenter about this one,” one fan tweeted, while another person added, “snl knew what they were doing pairing jake gyllenhaal and sabrina carpenter together.. they messy as hell for that.”
“sipping me espresso like you’re on a late night show,” a third Swiftie quipped, combining lyrics from Carpenter and Swift’s tracks.
Keep reading to see more Swiftie reactions to the SNL pairing below.