Taylor Swift’s legal team has sent a cease-and-desist letter to Jack Sweeney over his @taylorswiftjets Instagram threads, warning the student is stalking and harassing the pop star by tracking her private jet travel.
“This conduct poses an imminent threat to the safety and wellbeing of our client and must stop,” stated the letter from Washington-based law firm Venable posted to Reddit and obtained by The Hollywood Reporter.
Sweeney’s Instagram posts aim to measure and record the carbon footprints online of celebrities.
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But Swift’s legal team noted Swift has long had to fend off stalkers “and other individuals who wish her harm.” “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,” Katie Wright Morrone added in the letter.
The legal team added that Sweeney’s live updates of where Swift’s private jets were traveling represented a danger to the pop star. “This reality has forced our client to live her life in a constant state of fear for her personal safety. That fear is and has been significantly heightened due to your reckless actions,” the letter argued.
In a statement to THR, a rep for Swift said they can’t comment on an ongoing police investigation but “can confirm the timing of stalkers suggests a connection. His posts tell you exactly when and where she would be.”
Also adding that “before the tour kicked off, Taylor purchased more than double the carbon credits needed to offset all of her travel, which includes the tour.”
The complete cease-and-desist letter from Swift’s legal team to Sweeney follows:
Please be advised that Venable LLP represents Ms. Taylor Swift (“Client”). We understand that you are the individual operating the Instagram account @taylorswiftjets, and the Threads account by the same name (the “Offending Accounts”). For the past year, through these Offending Accounts, you have engaged in stalking and harassing behavior, including consistently publishing real-time and precise information about our Client’s location and future whereabouts to the public on social media. This conduct poses an imminent threat to the safety and wellbeing of our Client and must stop. We request that you immediately cease and desist from any further publication of this information, remove all currently-posted content on the Offending Accounts, and permanently terminate the operation of the Offending Accounts (and any similar accounts involving our Client).
You are notorious for disregarding the personal safety of others in exchange for public attention and/or requests for financial gain. 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.1 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 since she was a teenager. Indeed, there are many public cases of individuals who have come to Ms. Swift’s residences, including those armed with weapons and ammunition, and attempted to harm her. This reality has forced our Client to live her life in a constant state of fear for her personal safety. That fear is and has been significantly heightened due to your reckless actions. Because the Offending Accounts share “live” updates on her destination and the exact time our Client will arrive at a given location, you essentially provide individuals intent on physically harming her, or with nefarious or violent intentions, a roadmap to carry out their plans.
Of course, you have actual knowledge of all of this. Many social media users have commented on the Offending Accounts, expressing shock and concern at the danger you have created. Below is just a small sampling of the clear warnings that users have made in comments on the Instagram Offending Account:
“So many people obsessed with Taylor’s private life, it’s scary and pathetic.” (December 17, 2023);
“You people are unhinged stalkers.” (December 17, 2023);
“I feel like ethically you should delay these posts by a day so its not so creepy.” (October 30, 2023);
“At least this stalker account is finally good for something.” (October 22, 2023);
“This is creepy bro. Youre literally stalking her.” (September 22, 2023);
The account is “still very very creepy. especially for taylor, who has been stalked before” (September 5, 2023);
“yes yall she has literal stalkers who want to hurt her….which is why this page is so problematic and dangerous” (July 17, 2023);
“I’m gonna encourage everybody to report this account. This is stalker behavior and it’s so [expletive] up.” (July 17, 2023); and
“this account is so weird and invasive” (July 12, 2023).
Yet, your unlawful behavior continues.
Your willful and repeated harassment of our Client is in violation of several state laws. As is your intentional, offensive, and outrageous conduct and consistent violations of our Client’s privacy. To be clear, there is no justification for you to publicly identify our Client’s location. Indeed, there is no legitimate interest in or public need for this information, other than to stalk, harass, and exert dominion and control. Your posts on the Offending Accounts have caused and will continue to cause direct and irreparable harm, as well as emotional and physical distress to our Client, her family, and those close to her. Your wrongful and dangerous actions must stop.
Accordingly, we demand that you cease and desist from any further use or operation of the Offending Accounts (and any similar accounts involving our Client), remove all content related to our Client from the Offending Accounts, and immediately stop providing information about our Client’s location to the public. If you fail to adhere to these demands immediately, and by no later than close of business on December 26, 2023, or if you continue to publish information that threatens our Client’s safety, she will have no choice but to pursue any and all legal remedies available to her.2 We will not hesitate to escalate this matter as needed.