Joshua Bassett reacts after SNL sketch mentions ‘Drivers License’ drama

Alice Hearing
Joshua Bassett Olivia Rodrigo SNL TikTok

Joshua Bassett has addressed the drama surrounding the song ‘Driver’s License’ by Olivia Rodrigo for the very first time in a TikTok.

‘Driver’s License’ became an overnight sensation and literally broke records in January, and while the song itself is a heartbreaking break-up anthem, many believe it also touches on real events from Olivia Rodrigo‘s life.

Fans theorized early on that the singer and star of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series was in fact referencing a possible break up with her co-star Joshua Bassett who also plays her love interest in the show.

Many fans also believed that the “blonde girl” referred to in the song was Sabrina Carpenter, a former Disney star who had recently gotten close to Joshua Bassett.

Olivia Rodrigo Driver's License
Olivia’s hit single Driver’s License became an overnight sensation

Soon after, Sabrina released her own song titled ‘Skin,’ and listeners noticed some lines in the song that may indicate that it’s a response to Olivia’s insanely popular track.

Sabrina sings, “maybe you didn’t mean it, maybe “blonde” was the only rhyme,” in a potential reference to the iconic “you’re probably with that blonde girl,” line from Olivia’s own song. However, Sabrina has since denied that this was directed at Olivia.

The drama surrounding the song, Olivia and Sabrina blew up and reached corners of the internet far beyond TikTok where it originally grew in popularity, and this week it even made its way onto Saturday Night Live.

The SNL cast, alongside Bridgerton’s Regé-Jean Page who was hosting on Saturday evening, performed a sketch that celebrated just how viral the song became, with all the cast swaying and singing along to the icon “red lights, stop signs” bridge.

Joshua reacted to having his name mentioned on the iconic show in a TikTok. He captions it, “FRIEND: dude you were on SNL last night!!!,” but as Saturday Night Live cast member, Mikey Day, says “My b**** ex, Gina, is Joshua Bassett” he looks directly at the camera with a look of defeat. In the description, he adds “dream come true?”

This is the first time Joshua has made any reference to the drama, and safe to say reactions from TikTokers were mixed. Some were team Olivia and outraged at the actor, with one person writing “I love how with all this you still have the audacity to be on this app.”

Other’s felt bad for him, with one person adding “omg I feel so bad for him y’all.” But mostly, commenters were in complete shock that he’d decided to make a video in the first place. One of the top comments with more than 60k likes read “I can’t breathe, did he actually just post this?”

However, Joshua’s video neither confirms nor denies his involvement in the drama and offers no clarity on what really happened between the three Disney stars. Whether the real details will come out remains to be seen.

About The Author

Alice is a former writer at Dexerto based in London, covering online entertainment. Alice specialized in influencer culture on TikTok and YouTube as well as news and trends across prolific online platforms.