Wouldn't want any bad blood between us: Malala jokes about getting Beyonce, Taylor Swift tickets
Malala Yousafzai, the activist for girls’ education who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, is both a Swiftie and a Beyhive. When given a scenario to choose between Taylor Swift and Beyonce, the activist joked that she deserves tickets to both.
Malala made an appearance on the comedy podcast, Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me, where author and comedian Josh Gondelman gave her a rather “tough” scenario: If her Nobel Peace Prize came with free concert tickets, would she want to see Beyoncé or Taylor Swift?
After thinking for a bit, the Nobel Prize Laureate said that she would want both. “When I was little, I used to, like, sing the Love Story song together with my friends. It was one of the first two songs we started singing back in Pakistan. And Beyoncé, I mean, she's a legend, so I would want both tickets,” she said.
“I have the Nobel Peace Prize and I demand both,” she added as the audience laughed.
— Malala Yousafzai (@Malala) March 4, 2023
After the podcast episode aired, she retweeted a Swift fan account tweet, and wrote, “I would never want any bad blood between us,” a nod to Swift’s 2014 song Bad Blood.
In the same interview, Malala also spoke about how she was in her chemistry class when she found out about winning the Nobel Prize. Upon whether there was ever a time when she wasn’t peaceful, the activist shared that she’s not into exercise.
“I’m not a big fan of [the] gym, running, walking,” she said. “I need to sit and I need to relax. I stand up for education, sure but other than that… well.”
In the same podcast, the activist shared that she will be attending the Oscars ceremony on March 12 and that she is “so nervous” to meet the celebrities. She said she already met some at the Oscars luncheon on Feb. 13, including Tom Cruise, Michelle Oh, and Austin Butler “and his deep voice.”
A short documentary, Stranger At The Gate, which Malala executive produced is also up for an Oscar at the Academy Awards. The film, nominated in the Best Documentary Short Film category, tells the story of an Afghan refugee who meets a US marine planning to bomb her mosque. Now that Malala has finished her education, she wants to dedicate her time to her mission of “empowering young women and girls from different backgrounds to get the opportunity to share how they see the world.”