REVEALED: The insulting and demeaning words fictional vampire Lestat de Lioncourt used on Taylor Swift that went viral and got her friends and fans “cursing” and threatening his acting career…Details here.

Taylor Swift has found a new rival: Lestat de Lioncourt, aka the fictional vampire first penned by Anne Rice and currently played by Sam Reid in AMC’s Interview With the Vampire.

For context, over the weekend AMC released a first clip of the upcoming third season, wherein Lestat becomes a rockstar (as he will in the third season; more on that below). The little teaser showed Reid as Lestat sitting down for an interview and generally acting like a bit of a diva. Reid is already masterful as the theatrical Lestat, but this short video shows just how perfect a rockstar Lestat truly us.

Here’s where things get fun. In a since deleted X post, a fan juxtaposed images of Lestat in this clip with some of Taylor Swift in her “Blank Space” music video, with the lyric “I’ve got a long list of ex-lovers, they’ll tell you I’m insane” — a reference to Lestat’s toxic relationship with Louis, which fuels the first two seasons of the show.

And then, because this is the internet and X in the year 2024, some people got mad.

Now since this is the internet and X in 2024, so it is entirely possible that the person who responded with a passionate defense of Taylor Swift was trolling. However, that did not stop people from taking that and running with it, because the idea of Lestat starting a stan war on X was just so damn in character.

It also helped that Taylor Swift serendipitously played “I Don’t Wanna to Live Forever” as a surprise song at her most recent concert. Talk about timing (what if I told you she’s a mastermind?).

Personally, I think we should pit fictional characters against celebrities more often; this is what internet rage should be used for, actually.

The third season of Interview with the Vampire is going to follow The Vampire Lestat, the second book in Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles series. It’s all about Lestat as a rock star, because, yeah, of course Lestat would become a rock star. It also opens with two absolute banger paragraphs, wherein Lestat describes how hot he is, as one does. It’s giving Ebony Darkness Dementia Way of My Immortal fame.

Reid recites the first paragraph of this in its fully over-the-top glory in the trailer, which bodes well for just how amazing this new season will be.

Oh, and in case you were wondering… yes they did release the full in-universe song with a super-extra lyric video.