Taylor Swift threatens private-jet-tracking college student with legal action (original) (raw)
Baby now we’ve got bad blood… with a college student.
Taylor Swift’s team has threatened legal action against Jack Sweeney, a 21-year-old student at the University of Central Florida who has repeatedly posted information about her private jet usage on social media. The Washington Post reported that in December, Swift’s legal team sent Sweeney a cease-and-desist letter stating that they “have no choice but to pursue any and all legal remedies” if he didn’t stop his “stalking and harassing behavior.”
Sweeney tracks numerous celebrities’ private jets using already-public information from the Federal Aviation Administration on accounts like CelebJets, calculating estimates of fuel usage and carbon emissions for each trip as well as destination information. Swift’s team sent a cease-and-desist letter to Sweeney in December, claiming that the location information on his accounts contributes to stalking. Swift has recently experienced multiple instances of alleged stalking outside her residences.
“We are aware of your public disputes with other high-profile individuals and your tactics in those interactions, including offering to stop your harmful behavior only in exchange for items of value,” an excerpt from one letter provided to EW reads. “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. Ms. Swift has dealt with stalkers and other individuals who wish her harm.”
Sweeney didn’t immediately respond for comment. However, he told the Washington Post that “This information is already out there” and that “Her team thinks they can control the world.”
James Slater, an attorney for Sweeney who specializes in internet speech, told The Washington Post that Swift’s team’s claims are unfounded. “This isn’t about putting a GPS tracker on someone and invading their privacy. It’s using public information to track the jet of a public figure,” he said. “This is their means to try to quash a PR issue and bully my client to have the bad coverage die down.”
Taylor Swift.
Gareth Cattermole/WireImage
A spokesperson for Swift told EW, “We cannot comment on any ongoing police investigation but can confirm the timing of stalkers suggests a connection. His posts tell you exactly when and where she would be. Before the tour kicked off, Taylor purchased more than double the carbon credits needed to offset all of her travel, which includes the tour."
Swift, who recently became a billionaire, faced criticism for her private jet usage in the past. Marketing agency Yard estimated that the “Anti-Hero” singer’s plane was responsible for over 8,000 metric tonnes of emissions (over 9,000 US tons) in 2022 alone, and also found that she had the highest individual CO2 emissions of all the celebrities it tracked that year — equivalent to over 1,000 times the average person’s carbon footprint.
However, a rep for Swift told Rolling Stone at the time that since the singer’s jet is regularly loaned out to other individuals, “To attribute most or all of these trips to her is blatantly incorrect.”
Sweeney’s accounts also track the likes of Tom Cruise, Oprah Winfrey, Blake Shelton, Travis Scott, and has dedicated accounts to individually track Donald Trump, Jeff Bezos, and other billionaires. He previously faced opposition from Elon Musk, who banned him from X for posting the Tesla CEO’s “assassination coordinates.”
His real-time Swift-tracking account is no longer active; however, Sweeney has since opened a new account that tracks the singer’s jet on a 24-hour delay.
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