“West Side Story” Golden Globe winner and upcoming “Hunger Games” prequel star Rachel Zegler recently took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to support Taylor Swift against a viral clip in which a Barstool Sports podcast host joked about needing to see a sex tape featuring Swift and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce in order to prove the dating rumors about them are true.
“It’s not news that the media is particularly (and unwarrantedly) cruel to Taylor Swift, but the way men feel entitled to speak about women, their bodies and their sex lives needs to be seriously evaluated,” Zegler wrote in response to the Barstool video.
Swift and Kelce have captured the media zeitgeist in recent weeks. Amid dating rumors, Swift attended two Kansas City Chiefs games to much fanfare on social media. Neither the Grammy winner nor the NFL star have outright confirmed they are in a relationship.
During an episode of Barstool Sports’ “Pardon My Take” podcast, host Dan Katz said he was still skeptical about Swift and Kelce actually dating. He added, “If Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift release a sex video, I’ll consummate this relationship and be like, ‘Fine.’”
“You will never see people speaking this way about a man,” Zegler continued in her response to the video. “That goes for a lot of different scenarios. We do not pick apart men’s attitudes and relationships the way we do women’s. And it’s not always just men who speak this way about us. Women can and do, too. It sucks. Leave Taylor Swift alone!”
Some followers tried to explain to Zegler that Katz’s sex tape comment was just a joke, but the actor wasn’t buying it.
“Seeing a lot of ‘it’s a joke’ but you’ve got to understand that since the beginning of time ‘you can’t take a joke’ has been synonymous with ‘let me say a horrible thing about women without suffering the consequences,’” she explained. “We’re sick and tired! It’s never been funny! Get a life!”
Zegler is gearing up to bring “The Hunger Games” franchise back to the big screen as the co-lead up the upcoming prequel movie “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” in theaters Nov. 17 from Lionsgate. Swift herself will be in movie theaters this month with the Oct. 13 theatrical release of “The Eras Tour,” which is eyeing a $100 million start at the box office. She’s also releasing her next album, “1989 (Taylor’s Version), on Oct. 27.
