--- title: The New 'Grinch' Movie Is Hiding a Taylor Swift Meme description: A popular meme about Taylor Swift's music gets a reference in the new 'Grinch' movie, involving a screaming goat. canonical: https://time.com/5452013/grinch-taylor-swift-meme/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-11-12T18:32:46.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:55:57.765Z og:title: The New 'Grinch' Movie Is Hiding a Taylor Swift Meme og:description: The screaming goat of a Taylor Swift meme gets a spotlight in the movie og:url: https://time.com/5452013/grinch-taylor-swift-meme/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfd3cda036eb7f632/6989370022fb85cc68e2655d/goats.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Open Farm Day UnderHill Fibers og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The New 'Grinch' Movie Is Hiding a Taylor Swift Meme twitter:description: The screaming goat of a Taylor Swift meme gets a spotlight in the movie twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfd3cda036eb7f632/6989370022fb85cc68e2655d/goats.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The New 'Grinch' Movie Is Hiding a Taylor Swift Meme in Plain Sight > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=40471b23-1c7a-4c01-a643-360493c2896c&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1)  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Nov 12, 2018 6:32 PM UTC  GORHAM, ME - JULY 22: A goat munches on some greens at UnderHill Fibers in Gorham during Open Farm Day on Sunday, July 22, 2018\. (Staff Photo by Ariana van den Akker/Portland Press Herald via Getty Images) GORHAM, ME - JULY 22: A goat munches on some greens at UnderHill Fibers in Gorham during Open Farm Day on Sunday, July 22, 2018\. (Staff Photo by Ariana van den Akker/Portland Press Herald via Getty Images) Portland Press Herald—Press Herald via Getty Images  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Nov 12, 2018 6:32 PM UTC [Goats](http://time.com/4145834/goats-sing-christmas-carols/) are having a moment this holiday season. Specifically, a goat in the new animated[ _The Grinch_ movie](http://time.com/5451612/dr-seuss-grinch-box-office/), which just topped weekend box office sales. In the retelling of the classic Christmastime story, the furry green star goes on a journey into the woods — and encounters a goat on his escapade as an extra “layer of fun,” according [to an interview](https://www.businessinsider.com.au/the-grinch-goat-taylor-swift-2018-11) between co-director Scott Mosier and INSIDER. That’s because it isn’t just any goat, but a screaming goat, [inspired by](https://www.youtube.com/watch?time%5Fcontinue=17&v=kh6c0SOfkH4) the Taylor Swift “I Knew You Were Trouble” remix video that went viral in 2013. “I wish I could say it was some deep, artistic, creative core, but it was YouTube,” Mosier said. The screaming goat video was a hit online when the surprisingly anthropomorphic sound of the animal was spliced in to Swift’s song and music video from her 2012 album _Red_, taking the place of her vocals in the dubstep track’s chorus. Strange, yes, but also strangely effective, the random mashup between human and animal was a popular meme at the time — and has apparently remained top-of-mind enough to make its way into the production process of the _Grinch_ crew while they were developing the gags for the new movie. Just goes to show: the [Swift effect](http://time.com/5426974/taylor-swift-voting-post/) has a long reach. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5452013/grinch-taylor-swift-meme/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5452013/grinch-taylor-swift-meme/"},"headline":"The New 'Grinch' Movie Is Hiding a Taylor Swift Meme in Plain Sight","datePublished":"2018-11-12T18:32:46.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:55:57.765Z","description":"Screaming goats will never get old","url":"https://time.com/5452013/grinch-taylor-swift-meme/","keywords":["Newsfeed","movies","Taylor Swift"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfd3cda036eb7f632/6989370022fb85cc68e2655d/goats.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfd3cda036eb7f632/6989370022fb85cc68e2655d/goats.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Open Farm Day UnderHill Fibers","caption":"Open Farm Day UnderHill Fibers","creditText":"Portland Press Herald—Press Herald via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5452013/grinch-taylor-swift-meme/","name":"The New 'Grinch' Movie Is Hiding a Taylor Swift Meme in Plain Sight"}}]}] ```