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Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’s second season has been out for over 72 hours now, which means it’s time to start re-watching and trying to catch those more subtle jokes. We already told you about the fun Mad Men easter egg that connects Don Draper to Reverend Richard Wayne Gary Wayne, but, as reported by Vulture, there’s another series easter egg that’s less cute and more biting. Ladies and gentlemen, I think Tina Fey has used her show to re-launch her feud with Taylor Swift.
Before we dive into the weeds of the in-episode dig, let’s first break down the Fey and T-Swift feud. In 2013, Fey and her pop culture BFF Amy Poehler were hosting the Golden Globes, when they took a dig at T-Swift, warning her to stay away from Michael J. Fox’s son. Later when asked about the joke, Taylor Swift told Vanity Fair the incident reminded her of a quote Katie Couric once told her — “There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women.” Yeah, so that happened.
It’s worth noting that this feud began during Fey and Poehler’s pop culture prime. 2013 marked the final season of Fey’s critical darling 30 Rock, and Poehler had just wrapped up Parks and Recreation’s stellar fifth season. Meanwhile, T-Swift wasn’t the feminist powerhouse you now know from “Bad Blood.” She was still shaking off all of those serial dating accusations. The point is, trying to launch a feminist attack against the then-queens of pop culture feminism was a party foul for Swift.
Fast forward to 2016 and that joke I promised you. In Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Season Two, Episode Nine, Kimmy (Ellie Kemper) is having some drama with her roommate, Titus (Tituss Burgess). Kimmy needs to shower before she can go to work but can’t because Titus is using the tub to give his Barbie collection perms. A frustrated Kimmy goes to work anyway, picking up one of the best new characters of this season, the alcoholic Andrea (Tina Fey). Drunk Andrea tells Kimmy that she needs to put herself before others, and a newly-inspired Kimmy decides to confront Titus and regain her shower privileges. She tells Titus that she’s going to shower anyway, regardless of the Barbies, causing Titus to moan “How could you do this to my Barbies?” Then he delivers this line:
You know, there’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women.
On a show that’s as smart and detailed as Kimmy Schmidt, there’s no way that’s an accident. Essentially, Fey just used her show to call T-Swift a Barbie. Not just any Barbie — a Barbie with an unfinished perm.
Part of me wants to brush off the joke as Fey using a well-publicized incident to have some fun at T-Swift’s expense. However, Tina Fey’s work has played with very nuanced and complicated portrayals of feminism. One of the greatest examples is 30 Rock’s conflicted attack and praise of a Sarah Silverman-type comedian in the Season Five episode, “TGS Hates Women.” It’s just as likely that Fey is taking aim at T-Swift’s relatively recent, overly perfect, and oh-so-white brand of feminism, which has been criticized a lot lately. The jury’s out on whether Swift is going to fight back or shake it off.
[Watch the “Kimmy Meets A Drunk Lady” episode of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt on Netflix]
