Activists arrested, planes spray-painted at Taylor Swift airport

Members of the environmental group Just Stop Oil spray orange paint on a private jet at Stansted Private Airport.

Just stop oiling

Two environmental activists have been arrested after they broke into a private airport outside London, where Taylor Swift’s plane had landed hours earlier, and spray-painted multiple private jets orange, calling for an end to the use of fossil fuels by the end of the decade.

Just Stop Oil members Jennifer Kowalski, 28, and Cole Macdonald, 22, cut a metal fence surrounding the private airport in Stansted at 5 a.m. local time on Thursday and then targeted planes using orange paint similar to that seen in the group’s protest campaign in Wednesday at Stonehenge, a British prehistoric monument. Just Stop Oil said the paint was cornflower blue and would wash off.

Essex Police said Kowalski and Macdonald were later arrested Guardian in a statement: “Officers were on scene within minutes and detained two people. The airport and flights are operating normally. A 22-year-old woman from Brighton and a 28-year-old woman from Dumbarton were arrested on suspicion of causing criminal damage and interfering with the use or operation of national infrastructure.”

Just Stop Oil is a coalition of groups working together to demand that the UK Government work with other countries to agree to end the extraction and burning of oil, gas and coal by 2030. It published a video of the protest action on the social media platform X (previously known as as Twitter), noting that Swift’s jet, which has been the subject of controversy recently, landed there earlier in the day.

“JUST KEEP YOUR PRIVATE OIL PAINT JACKS HOURS AFTER TAYLOR SWIFT’S EARTH Jennifer and Cole cut the fence at the private Stansted airport where @taylorswift13’s jet is parked to demand an emergency treaty to end fossil fuel use by 2030.” – the group wrote on the platform.

It is unclear whether Swift’s jet was the group’s target. However, a post on the group’s website referenced Swift’s “Cruel Summer” and the superstar’s “Blank Space,” which suggested that Just Stop Oil was aware of Swift’s jet presence at the time of the break-in. Hollywood reporter contacted the group to explain their intentions to break into Stanstead, but had not received a response on Thursday.

“We live in two worlds: one where billionaires live in luxury, able to fly away on private jets, the other where unbearable conditions are imposed on untold millions,” MacDonald said in an article published Thursday morning on the group’s website. “Meanwhile, a system that allows a few to accumulate extreme wealth to the detriment of everyone else is destroying the conditions necessary to sustain human life in a rapidly accelerating, never-ending “cruel summer.” Billionaires are not untouchable, climate breakdown will affect all of us.”

Swift’s team previously sent a cease-and-desist letter to the owner of social media accounts that documented following her travels on a private jet. A 2022 study by marketing firm Yard found that Swift was the top celebrity carbon offender – by that time, 170 flights had emitted 9,142 tonnes of carbon dioxide.

In response, Swift’s representative said in a statement that her plane “is regularly loaned to others. To attribute most or all of these trips to her is grossly inaccurate.”

Additionally, Swift’s representative said THR when the cease-and-desist letter was sent ahead of the start of her Eras tour, which Swift is currently on in the UK, “Taylor purchased more than twice the amount of carbon credits needed to offset her entire trip, which includes the tour.”

On Wednesday, a video showed two Just Stop Oil activists using fire extinguishers to spray paint at Stonehenge. The group wrote about direct action: “Just Stop Oil protesters have demanded that the future government sign a legally binding treaty to phase out fossil fuels by 2030.”

In a statement to CNN, English Heritage chief executive Nick Merriman said there was no immediate damage to the monument, which will be open this week to mark the summer solstice.

“There appears to be no visible damage, but this in no way means that no harm has occurred, from the very moment the stones are cleansed to the suffering of those for whom Stonehenge has spiritual significance.”