Elon Musk Says Taylor Swift is Right To Be ‘Concerned’ About Student Who Tracks Celebrities’ Jets
Elon Musk has some advice for Taylor Swift: billionaire to billionaire.
The Tesla tycoon made a public statement on Swift threatening to pursue legal recourses against Jack Sweeney, a college student, for publishing the locations of famous people's private jets online. Swift's carbon footprint under her private jet has become active discourse among climate-conscious people, and Sweenety's tracking makes it harder for her to escape this backlash.
Sweeney is an awful human being.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 6, 2024
Taylor Swift is right to be concerned.
Musk said on X, "Sweeney is an awful human being," in response to a post on the news posted by journalist Ian Miles Cheong. "Taylor Swift is right to be concerned."
Musk made his remark following reports that Sweeney had received a cease-and-desist letter from Swift's lawyer in December, demanding that he discontinue his "stalking and harassing behavior," per Business Insider. The letter stated, "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."
Musk's tweet was typical of the billionaire, Sweeney told the outlet over text. "Why does he get involved in literally everything?" Sweeney said. The undergraduate student responded to Musk on X by bringing up his past interactions with the CEO. "Let's remember you offered me 5k to stop," Sweeney wrote. "Also threatened to sue me, and here we are a year later."
Regarding the legal notice of harassment that Swift's team sent, Sweeney informed the outlet that he had no malicious intent against the individuals whose jets he had monitored and that he had set up the accounts out of his belief in "transparency and public information." Sweeney also maintained social media profiles that tracked the whereabouts of other ultrarich individuals, including Mark Zuckerberg, Donald Trump, and Swift. Sweeney said, "You should have a decent expectation that your jet will be tracked whether or not I do it. After all, it is public information.
After Swift's boyfriend Travis Kelce, a tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs, advanced to the Super Bowl on February 11 in Las Vegas, the talk about Swift's private plane became even louder. Swift will be going from Tokyo, where she is currently on tour if she decides to attend the Super Bowl, per AP.
That's going to be over 19,400 kilometers. A Dassault Falcon 900LX, one of Swift's aircraft, may emit more than 200,000 pounds of carbon dioxide over a 19,400-mile flight, according to Gregory Keoleian, co-director of the University of Michigan's Center for Sustainable Systems.
According to Julia Stein, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law, the issue over Swift's usage of private jets highlights the "great disparity" in greenhouse gas emissions that separates the rich from lower-class individuals. “You’re seeing this play out on kind of a microcosmic scale (with Swift), but that’s true too of industrialized countries their carbon emissions historically,” she said.