Taylor Swift takes on LGBTQ haters in star-studded new video: watch
Katy Perry, Ellen DeGeneres, RuPaul, Adam Lambert, Ryan Reynolds, more appear in LGBTQ icon-heavy clip
Pop icon Taylor Swift has released a new video and it features more than a few celebrity appearances.
"Asked a few friends to be in the You Need To Calm Down video," wrote Swift in a tweet on Sunday, and she wasn't kidding.
Set in a colourful trailer park, the classic-looking clip includes appearances by Katy Perry, Ellen DeGeneres, RuPaul, Adam Lambert, Laverne Cox, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Billy Porter, Todrick Hall, Adam Rippon, Ciara, Hayley Kiyoko, the cast of Queer Eye, Ryan Reynolds and more.
First released last week, the song takes on homophobia and social media trolls. In the video, Swift and her LGBTQ-heavy crew relax and have fun while an angry mob yells and waves homophobic placards.
Watch:
"You are somebody that we don't know / But you're comin' at my friends like a missile / Why are you mad when you could be GLAAD? / Sunshine on the street at the parade," she sings. "But you would rather be in the dark ages / Makin' that sign must've taken all night."
"Shade never made anybody less gay," she sings later in the song, "so you need to calm down."
At the end of the video there is text that reads, "Let's show our pride by demanding that, on a national level, our laws truly treat all of our citizens equally." It also points people to Swift's petition for Senate support of the Equality Act on Change.org.
The new video has only been up for a few hours, but has already received more than two million views.