Tom Hiddleston was all smiles when host Simu Liu cracked a joke about his ex Taylor Swift during the opening monologue of the 2024 People’s Choice Awards.
“And finally, for the most iconic pop culture moment of the year. Who could forget that one little movie about a blonde American icon that had the entire country dressing up, dancing the night away, and making huge waves in the box office. I’m talking, of course, about Taylor Swift the Eras Tour movie,” Simu, 34, quipped on Sunday, February 18.
Simu made the audience think he was referencing Barbie, which Simi appeared in and earned five honors during the awards show. (The hit film won Movie of the Year, Comedy Movie of the Year, as well as acting nods for stars Ryan Gosling, Margot Robbie and America Ferrera.)
“I’m sorry, did you think I was going to say the other … No, no, no. Look, I was a Swiftie long before I was Ken, OK,” the Barbie actor joked. “Just want to be super clear where my loyalties lay. I’m a 1989 baby, so Taylor and I, we’re bonded.”
After Simu referenced Swift’s 1989 album, the camera panned to Hiddleston, 43, who smiled and laughed.
Hiddleston and Swift, 34, had a short-lived romance in 2016. The pair met at the Met Gala in that May, but by September, the pop star called off the relationship.
“[Taylor] was the one to put the brakes on the relationship,” a source told Us Weekly at the time. “Tom wanted the relationship to be more public than she was comfortable with.”
While the pair haven’t been romantically linked in years, eagle-eyed Swifties noticed he may have referenced their romance when Hiddleston presented the award for Outstand Writing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie alongside his Loki costar Ke Huy Quan.
“Good evening, everyone. It’s wonderful to be here. You all look lovely,” Hiddleston told the audience, while Quan, 52, added, “Hi everyone, Tom Hiddleston wants all of you to know he loves me very much, right Tom?”
As the crowd laughed, Hiddleston replied, “I love you, man.”
Fans speculated the remark poked fun at the moment Hiddleston was photographed wearing an “I [heart] T.S.” tank top during her 4th of July party in Rhode Island in 2016.
“The truth is, it was the Fourth of July and a public holiday and we were playing a game and I slipped and hurt my back,” Hiddleston told GQ in February 2017. “And I wanted to protect the graze from the sun and said, ‘Does anyone have a T-shirt?’ And one of her friends said, ‘I’ve got this’ … And we all laughed about it. It was a joke.”
While Swift is now dating Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, Hiddleston is engaged to Zawe Ashton, with whom he welcomed his first child in late 2022.
