Penn Badgley embraces You’s Joe Goldberg as he joins TikTok with humorous Taylor Swift’s ‘Anti-Hero’ challenge

Penn Badgley announced his arrival on TikTok by taking part in a new Taylor Swift challenge that involved his You character.

The 35-year-old shared a video featuring the Grammy winner’s new track Anti-Hero while dressed as murderous Joe Goldberg from the Netflix series.

In the video, Badgley runs through an apartment to open the door to his stalker character who lip-syncs the lyrics, “It’s me, hi. I’m the problem, it’s me”.

The post, which was uploaded on Tuesday, had been viewed more than 381,000 times and earned almost 118,000 likes at the time of writing.

Badgley’s video has caught so much attention that Taylor Swift herself also commented on it, writing: “OMG!!!!”

Swift started the Anti-Hero challenge last week, saying “Join my #TSAntiHeroChallenge and share your anti-heroic traits” in a YouTube shorts video that was shared also on her TikTok.

Fans of Badgley and his Netflix series expressed their joy at him joining TikTok and taking part in the trend.

One fan enthusiastically wrote: “Penn in his Swiftie era.”

“MY GOD. Not you joining TikTok with Taylor as the soundtrack. PERFECTION,” another commented.

A third declared: “Penn you’re now my fave TikToker.”

“Excited to see who the lucky unlucky lady is next season,” a You fan remarked about the upcoming new series.

In the hours since Badgley joined the social media platform, he’d amassed nearly 62,000 followers despite uploading only two videos.

While many people are eagerly awaiting the fourth series of You in February, music lovers have been enjoying Swift’s new album Midnights. This quickly broke records to become the most streamed album on Spotify in a single day.

“And before the clock could even strike midnight on October 22nd, Taylor Swift broke the record for most streamed album in a single day in Spotify history. Congratulations, @taylorswift13,” the platform’s official account tweeted.

Reacting to the news, Swift wrote: “How did I get this lucky, having you guys out here doing something this mind blowing?! Like what even just happened?!”

Swift took fans by surprise when she announced the new album in the closing moments of the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) in New Jersey in August.

She has described the record as the story of “13 sleepless nights scattered throughout my life” and “a journey through terrors and sweet dreams”.

It sees her turn away from the intimate indie songwriting of her two last albums, Folklore and Evermore, in favour of electronica, synth-pop and sometimes even hip hop-influenced beats.

Swift has once again written the majority of the album with Jack Antonoff, lead singer of rock band Bleachers.