Mariska Hargitay Hosts Emmys, Picks Swift Song
Mariska Hargitay hosts the Primetime Emmy Awards on Monday, Sept. 14 at the Peacock Theater at L.A. Live in Los Angeles. The ceremony starts at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT and will air live on NBC and stream on Peacock, according to the Television Academy.
It is a hosting milestone. Hargitay is the first woman in 15 years to host the Primetime Emmys, after Jane Lynch did it in 2011, Billboard reported. She is only the fourth woman this century to take the job.
Ahead of the 78th Emmy Awards, Hargitay talked about music. During a photo shoot for a Los Angeles Times story, she asked for Taylor Swift's song "The Man" to be played.
That choice comes with history. "The Man" was the fourth single from Swift's 2019 album Lover. It debuted and peaked at No. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100, the United States singles chart, in September 2019. Swift then won Best Direction at the August 2020 MTV Video Music Awards for directing the song's video.
The two stars have been trading tributes for years. Swift named one of her Scottish Fold cats Olivia Benson, after Hargitay's character on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Hargitay has played Benson for 27 seasons.
Hargitay has returned the favour. She has previously recalled getting a cat of her own and naming it for a Swift song, "Karma".
What makes this stand out is how public that mutual admiration has been. Neither singer nor actor has kept it quiet, and the photo-shoot request brought it back into view on awards day.
For viewers, this means a familiar face in a new role. Hargitay is herself an Emmy winner, and the Television Academy announced on July 7, 2026 that she would host this year's show, Television Academy confirmed. The main ceremony caps three nights of 2026 Primetime Emmy presentations.
