


What a puss!
Taylor Swift was announced as TIME’s 2023 Person of the Year Wednesday, but it was one of the three collectible magazine covers commemorating the occasion — showing the “Anti-Hero” singer posing with her cat, Benjamin Button, draped around her neck — that really had fans meowing on social media.
Within hours, the photo had become a staple on the internet — and the inspiration behind yet another trend on TikTok, where Swifties tried to recreate the scene with their own cats, only to discover that their own pets were somewhat less willing to cooperate than the well-bred Benjamin.
The videos typically start off with a screenshot of the TIME cover and then show the user trying to get their cat to go along with the stunt.
One user posted a video that showed her struggling to get her cat over her shoulders. She eventually got the cat in the position, but it didn’t last long.
“@Taylor Swift idk how you got Benji to do this… August was NOT having it,” she captioned the video.
Another creator’s cat tried to bite his way out of the situation, clearly displeased by the trend.
One TikToker with six cats went as far as to try the trend with all of them and rated each cat based on how well they created the photo.
“With six cats, at least one of them has to be capable of being as iconic as Benjamin, right?” the caption said.
Many people in the comments of these videos pointed out that Benjamin is a Ragdoll cat, and it’s “in their DNA” to pose like that.
However, one person proved that not all Ragdolls are as easygoing as Swift’s.
“Elle is a ragdoll but did not live up to the ragdoll name for this one,” the caption of the video said.
Every time she tried to put the cat around her neck, Elle would try to run away.