Tina Fey has belatedly issued an apology for making ‘fetch’ happen, fourteen years after Mean Girls entered the world and let us know that the slang term was never going to catch on.
Stopping by the Today show on Thursday to talk about Mean Girls’ Broadway production earning 12 Tony nominations, Fey said ‘fetch’ happened despite her best intentions.
“I want to apologize to the world for fetch,” she said. “I didn’t mean for it to happen.”
While Today host Savannah Guthrie expressed hope that ‘fetch’ still has a chance to spread, in the words of Regina George: “Stop trying to make fetch happen. It’s not going to happen.”
Fey said Mean Girls earning 12 Tony nods brought her to tears while she was working out in the “middle of Equinox.”
“It must have meant more to me than I realized,” she said.
See the movie clip that started it all.
More Must-Reads from TIME
- Where Trump 2.0 Will Differ From 1.0
- How Elon Musk Became a Kingmaker
- The Power—And Limits—of Peer Support
- The 100 Must-Read Books of 2024
- Column: If Optimism Feels Ridiculous Now, Try Hope
- The Future of Climate Action Is Trade Policy
- FX’s Say Nothing Is the Must-Watch Political Thriller of 2024
- Merle Bombardieri Is Helping People Make the Baby Decision
Write to Mahita Gajanan at mahita.gajanan@time.com