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Taylor Swift has faced criticism for allegedly overusing her private jets, with environmentalists highlighting the significant carbon emissions from her frequent flights. The controversy intensified when 21-year-old Jack Sweeney created an Instagram account to track Swift's private jet usage. However, the account was deactivated after Swift's legal team sent a notice threatening legal action.
Taylor Swift currently owns only one private jet, the Dassault 7X. In February 2024, the Blank Space singer sold her Dassault Falcon 900 aircraft to a company in Missouri.
Taylor Swift's '13-minute flight' controversy explained
Taylor Swift faced severe backlash after her 'flight stalker' Jack Sweeney posted her airtime statistics online. The statistics showed that it took her just 13 minutes to fly from one side of St. Louis to another, whereas a car ride would have cost her 30 minutes.
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“Flew from Cahokia/St Louis, Illinois, US to St Louis, Missouri, US 24 hours ago. Apx. flt. time 13 Mins,” captioned Sweeney in an X post.
Reportedly, Jack Sweeney is a student at the University of Central Florida and used the publicly available information to track Taylor Swift's flight information and posted it online.
In a statement to the Daily Mail, Jack Sweeney claimed that he had no ill intentions. The college student believed that people had the right to know the carbon footprints left by celebrities.
“I think it’s important to note that nowhere do I intend for harm. I actually think Swift has some good songs. I believe in transparency and public information,” stated Sweeney.
According to Andrea Carlo's article in euronews.green, Taylor was responsible for the emission of at least 8,300 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2023 alone. The Grammy winner took a minimum of 100 flights in her private jet and her carbon footprint was 1,184 times the footprint of an average human.
Social media has since been divided into two groups. Some people believe that the Grammy winner should face consequences for her actions, while the other group sides with her and offers reasons why she took the 13-minute flight.
"no wonder her team is trying to ban this flight tracking LMFAOOO," commented one user on X.
"13 minutes for a flight is hilarious. This country is doomed," agreed another X user.
However, others came up with likely scenarios as to why Taylor's jet was caught in the 13-minute flight controversy. They claimed that the flight was a maintenance flight and Taylor wasn't even inside it.
Others claimed that Taylor had sold the private jet long before the data was collected.
"She sold this jet btw…it’s not even her anymore and he’s fooling you with this tracking," accused one Taylor Swift fan.
"How else do they test flights and move planes between maintenance hangars? Do you think they just push them through the streets? This was the day she sold the plane it was obviously not her on it as she was in LA," implored another.
Taylor Swift isn't the first prey in Jack Sweeney's jet-tracking hobby. The 21-year-old has previously tracked the real-time flight coordinates of big names like Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg. However, his posts don't reveal who is inside the flights.
In fact, Elon Musk tweeted about Jack Sweeney and banned him from X after the student posted his flight coordinates online.
"They posted my exact real-time location, basically assassination coordinates, in (obvious) direct violation of Twitter terms of service,” tweeted Elon Musk in 2022.
Taylor Swift's lawyers sent a legal notice to Jack Sweeney forcing him to close his 'flight-stalking' account
Taylor Swift's legal team forced Jack Sweeney to close his Instagram account where he posted real-time updates of flight coordinates of the songwriter using publicly available data from the Federal Aviation Administration.
Swift's legal team accused him of 'stalking and harassing' the 34-year-old, according to a report by the Washington Post.
"While this may be a game to you, or an avenue that you hope will earn you wealth or fame, it is a life-or-death matter for our client,” alleged a letter sent to Sweeney by Taylor's lawyers.
The letter further elaborated on Taylor Swift's constant run-ins with stalkers ever since she rose to stardom.
“Ms. Swift has dealt with stalkers and other individuals who wish her harm since she was a teenager. The reality has forced our Client to live her life in a constant state of fear for her personal safety," continued the letter.
According to a report by The Sun, Taylor's representative even alleged that Sweeney's stalking was responsible for a man getting arrested outside Taylor Swift's townhouse in Manhattan.
