Taylor Swift‘s alleged private jet usage has been the subject of online criticism and a plethora of Twitter memes this week. It all started after Yard, a sustainability marketing firm, gathered information regarding which celebrities use their private jets the most frequently (and ultimately contribute to the current climate crisis in the process).
According to flight log data from the infamous @CelebJets Twitter account and the estimated amounts of carbon dioxide emissions made possible by each plane, Yard indicated that Swift would earn the no. 1 spot. Her jet, they calculated, flew a total of 170 trips in the past year. This would ultimately amount to a whopping 15.9 entire days in the air. The firm added that 8,293.54 tons of CO2 was released into the atmosphere from these flights (and this is 1,184.8 times what the average person causes annually).
Taylor Swift has flown more than 170 times in 2022. Today is the 210th day of the year. She’s not on tour, so why has she been in the air this many times? This is screaming “I feel like going to LA for dinner, let’s get on the plane.” https://t.co/6ZyksqrD51
— Mx. Amadi Lovelace (@amaditalks) July 29, 2022
With climate change being a huge topic on social media, in modern political discussions and elsewhere, Twitter users were quick to comment on Swift’s reported impact on the climate with what many deemed frivolous jet usage. This led a spokesperson for the “All Too Well” singer, 32, to defend her in a statement to Rolling Stone. Swift’s representative said, “Taylor’s jet is loaned out regularly to other individuals.To attribute most or all of these trips to her is blatantly incorrect,” although this only seemed to fuel the Twitter fire all the more.
While some users noted that Swift “isn’t even on tour” or having a reason “to do more traveling than any other celeb right now,” others expressed their disappointment in how her team handled what could have been a moment to “own up” to the effects of her private plane on the environment.
“Taylor’s jet is loaned out regularly to other individuals,” Taylor Swift’s rep said in a statement. “To attribute most or all of these trips to her is blatantly incorrect.”https://t.co/leTpfUaLgB
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) July 31, 2022
“You’ve really gotta hand it to Taylor Swift’s publicist bc ‘she generously rents out her jet for her poorer friends who can’t afford their own personal jets to use’ is the funniest possible way to put a humanitarian spin on her carbon emissions,” someone wrote. Another user added, “Defending Taylor Swift‘s massive carbon footprint (even if she let others use her plane) is missing the point about how rich celebrities could be doing more to limit contributing to the climate crisis.”
While there are plenty of eloquent responses to the alleged private jet news, there are also thousands of hilarious memes on the topic, and we’ve rounded up some here:
taylor swift’s driveway pic.twitter.com/IujgRKTsfn
— Andrew Strauss (@straussanator) July 30, 2022
Thread of Taylor Swift private plane jokes I’ve come across in the last 24 hours: pic.twitter.com/yVK4ahb5wJ
— मयंक (@hoaxmank) July 30, 2022
video of taylor swift going to get a glass of water pic.twitter.com/YctZlW1IlQ
— jack || ifb (@state_of_slay_) July 30, 2022
taylor swift after being forced to travel in a car instead of her private jet : pic.twitter.com/fgSEtbNb9T
— Ron (@evermoretrack2) July 30, 2022
Other celebs on the list included Kylie Jenner (who recently came under fire for posting photos of her and Travis Scott’s individual jets) and Drake. Overall, like many Twitter users have written, calling out celebrities for their private jet usage and “using Co2-emitting planes like others use cars” will continue as data like this is revealed and impacts on the environment become more and more evident.
