On the evening of Sunday 1 October 2023, Taylor Swift attended yet another one of her new maybe-boyfriend Travis Kelce’s games at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey as the Kansas City Chiefs—Kelce’s team—took on the New York Jets. Accompanied by an impressive clique of fellow celebrities, including newly single Game of Thrones actress Sophie Turner, Hugh Jackman, and married couple Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, Swift’s appearance made headlines in no time.
@sol.pages she’s just like me fr #taylorswift #swiftie #traviskelce #kansascitychiefs
♬ original sound - 🫶🏻
But what most of us saw as nothing more than the pop star showing up to support her new beau, one TikToker saw as an ingenious way for the private plane aficionado to clean up all the links, photos, and stories that, up until now, used to come up when you Google “Taylor Swift jet.”
In case you’re still not completely sure of what I’m getting at here, in August 2022, the singer was strongly criticised after she topped a list of celebrities most guilty of polluting the planet with their private jets.
Swift’s jet was in use for 170 out of the first 200 days of the year and emitted 8,293.54 metric tonnes of CO2e, 1,184.8 times what a normal person emits each year, according to a report from the sustainable marketing firm Yard. Out of the 21 celebrities ranked in the report, that year, the average celebrity jet emitted 3376.64 tonnes of CO2e this year, or 482.37 times the average person’s emissions per year.
Understandably, social media users were quick to respond to the findings, creating countless memes depicting Swift using her private jet to go to Starbucks or to refill a glass of water. Swift then went on to release a statement saying she regularly loans out her private jet to others.
Back to Sunday night, and although I’m definitely not saying that Miss Swiftie is only dating the American football star to shake up her SEO game and permanently bury the emissions data about her private jet usage, I wouldn’t underestimate her team either.
As Vulture cleverly put it, “forget how Taylor Swift went from New York to Kansas City and back to New Jersey so fast (jets)—all that matters is whom she saw play on Sunday (Jets)!”
I mean, even TikTok is thinking it:
@mollybmcpherson #stitch with @underthepink (Kristen) Now we have Taylor Swift’s OFFICIAL Response to the Private Jet CO2 Emission Plane problem from 2022. #taylor #taylorswift #seo #pr #publicrelations #fyp #prlady #thejets #nfl #airplane #crisiscommunication
♬ original sound - Molly McPherson