Taylor Swift Appears In 'SVU' Parody, Noah Kahan Covers "Bridge Over Troubled Water" At 2026 Emmys

10:42 PM EDT on September 14, 2026

The 78th Primetime Emmy Awards are taking place tonight at the Peacock Theater in Downtown Los Angeles. The Emmys don't have Best Original Song and Best Original Score categories like the Oscars (though they should totally honor television's best needle drops), but the ceremony intersected with the music world in at a couple of ways.

Host Mariska Hargitay opened the show with the requisite song about current TV shows. It was a parody of "I Love Rock ’n’ Roll" (changed to "I Love TV Screens") with cameos from Jalen Brunson, Jeff Hiller, Jean Smart, and Jennifer Coolidge.

oooof this opening number at tonight's Emmy Awards was rough. Mariska Hargitay tried her best though pic.twitter.com/9FkKBI0eEY

You may recall Harigitay watched Brunson lead the New York Knicks to a Game 4 win in June while wearing matching t-shirts with Taylor Swift, Mariska Hargitay, and Alana and Este Haim. During tonight's Emmys she reunited with Swift for a pre-taped sketch. Swift's cat Olivia Benson appeared too — she's named after the actress' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit character. The segment, which satirized crazed Swifties searching for easter eggs in the pop star's music and videos, set up a Pepe Silvia scene about whether Swift would show up to tonight's ceremony. (Her Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour | The Final Show was nominated in five categories, but did not win any when the Creative Arts Emmys were announced earlier this month.)

Taylor Swift is wanted at the Emmys ?#Emmys LIVE on NBC and streaming on Peacock. pic.twitter.com/Pb59goEkxw

Swift was not there. She was at Arrowhead Stadium, asking Tom Cruise if Digger is a musical.

Taylor Swift and Tom Cruise in the house for MNFDENvsKC on ESPNStream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/59S027XB8M

Then, during the In Memoriam segment honoring TV industry people who've died in the past year, Noah Kahan dipped into his northeast folk-rock cultural heritage by covering Simon & Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water." There was also a special tribute to Dolly Parton from Sally Field and Reba McEntire, who sang "Appalachian Memories."

Noah Kahan performed during In Memoriam #Emmys pic.twitter.com/M1x1Vh1P23

Sally Field's tribute to the late Dolly Parton, her Steel Magnolias co-star, was so sweet."If there are truly angels on earth, then we just lost one: Dolly Parton. She was genuine and humble, supportive, and blisteringly funny, with a bodied sense of humor that would send any… pic.twitter.com/xKa34RCOHi

Reba McEntire pays tribute to Dolly Parton singing “Appalachian Memories” #Emmys pic.twitter.com/qygDX44XTB

That was sad. Here's John Mulaney:

LOL this whole bit from John Mulaney was so good. I need him to host the Emmys next year"Some of the men in this category do method acting, and some do regular, less annoying acting...""I believe it was DJ Khaled who said 'real men don't go down on their wives,' but these… pic.twitter.com/Gv708ngVnz

Sweet, sweet, Maggie. DIGGER – only in theaters October 2.

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