Jay Leno Recalls Taylor Swift as the ‘Nicest Person’ During Unusual Fan Encounter at The Tonight Show

Jay Leno is looking back at a moment that showed Taylor Swift’s true colors.

In an exclusive sneak peek of TMZ’s Merry Elfin’ Christmas special, the television host, 74, recalls how a “road rage” incident led to some young fans getting to meeting the pop superstar backstage at The Tonight Show, which he hosted from 1992 to 2009 and again from 2010 to 2014.

“I’ll tell you a road rage story involving Taylor Swift,” he begins in the clip. “I’m in traffic, a guy behind me, beep beep beep. I’m driving one of my old cars so I [indicate to] go around me.”

However, the driver wasn’t happy with Leno’s solution and gave him the finger.

“I pulled to the light, and I looked at the guy, and I go, ‘What was that all about?’” he shares. “He starts swearing and that’s what I laid into him. I said, ‘Let me guess. What are you 52, divorce[d], your kids hate you, you’re bald? What was your greatest day? In high school?’”

Rather than fighting back against Leno’s notion, the driver had an unexpected reaction.

“The guy starts crying [and says] ‘You’re right, man.’ I go ‘Wait, wait, wait’ so I get out of my car [and] I get into his car,” he says. “I said, ‘Look, I got Taylor Swift on the show next Wednesday. Do you daughters like Taylor Swift?’ [He said], ‘Oh, they love Taylor Swift.’”

Leno says he then told the man: “I said, ‘I tell you what, I’ll give you two tickets to the show and you come back and meet [her].”

When they arrived backstage, the driver’s daughters were “ecstatic” and Swift, 34, was gracious to the family.

“I told Taylor the situation. She gave him swag [and] talked to the girls. I mean [she] was the nicest person,” Leno explains before joking that the driver’s kids now “liked him again.”

Last week, the 14-time Grammy winner once again showed her generosity when meeting fans following her boyfriend Travis Kelce and his Kansas City Chiefs teammates scoring a victory against Las Vegas Raiders at the Arrowhead Stadium on Nov. 29.

Swift was spotted leaning out of her suite to interact with a pair of young fans. Swift appeared to chat with and hand something to one of the fans, who was wrapped in a Chiefs blanket, footage shared by journalist Vince Lovergine on X (formerly Twitter) shows.

She could then be seen smiling and waving at someone else in the crowd, beckoning them closer to the suite.The “Karma” singer then leaned even further out of the window as another young fan, who was sporting a Kelce jersey, approached. She then handed something to the little girl and posed with both fans for a photo, doing two thumbs-up as the girls smiled for the picture.