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Wednesday, Mar 6, 2013 9:50 PM UTC

Tina Fey defends Taylor Swift jab, says it was “a lighthearted joke”

The comedian upset the singer with a joke she made at the Golden Globes

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Topics: Tina Fey, Taylor Swift, mean girls, Vanity Fair, Celebrity, Amy Poehler,

Tina Fey defends Taylor Swift jab, says it was (Credit: John Shearer/invision/ap)

Taylor Swift, a girl who doesn’t “wanna end up being awful and intolerable,” or alone “because I thought I was too good to hang out with anybody,” sounded just that in Vanity Fair yesterday when she insulted American national treasures Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, implying that they would go to hell for mocking her at the Golden Globes.

Swift referenced a Madeleine Albright quote by way of Katie Couric: ‘There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women,” referring, in part, to Fey and Poehler, who joked that the serial dater and confessional singer should “stay away from Michael J. Fox’s son.”

Poehler apologized to Swift for the misunderstanding yesterday, saying, “Aw, I feel bad if she was upset. I am a feminist, and she is a young and talented girl. That being said, I do agree I am going to hell. But for other reasons. Mostly boring tax stuff.”

Fey, however, defended the joke. She told Entertainment Tonight, “I did not see that one coming. It was a joke. It was a lighthearted joke.” She added, “And it’s a shame that she didn’t take it in the crazy-aunt spirit in which it was intended.”

“If anyone was going to get mad at us,” she explained, “I thought it would be James Cameron,” referring to her and Poehler’s “Zero Dark Thirty” jab: ”When it comes to torture, I trust the lady who spent three years married to James Cameron.”

Prachi Gupta is an Assistant News Editor for Salon, focusing on pop culture. Follow her on Twitter at @prachigu or email her at pgupta@salon.com. More Prachi Gupta.

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