Dan MacMedan-USA TODAY
A video claiming Taylor Swift took a 40-second flight on her private jet has gone viral online this week. There is no proof that the flight actually happened. The original clip was actually shared on TikTok in January. And yet here we are with this video closing on on 10 million views on X (Twitter) in less than three days. Why?
There are actually several reasons. One, as evidenced by the booing she received at the Super Bowl, some people are either tired of Taylor Swift, or they just don’t like her. Two, for several years running, Taylor Swift has been one of the worst offenders when it comes to CO2 emissions from private jets polluting the atmosphere. She was number one on that list in 2022. In 2023, Swift was criticized for repeatedly using her private jet to fly back and forth from her tour to Travis Kelce’s Kansas City Chiefs games. And for much of 2024, focus by those worried about celebrities’ carbon footprints was often centered on Taylor Swift’s many flights.
In the video that’s gone viral, again, claims to show Taylor Swift’s private jet making a 40-second flight from Los Angeles to Santa Monica.
Taylor Swift's 40 second flight
[🎞️ theblendingspot]pic.twitter.com/Xq5RhJknvf
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) March 16, 2025
Does this mean Taylor Swift took a 40-second flight just to go from Los Angeles to Santa Monica? Maybe. Maybe not. We have no idea. Is it possible that she did? Sure. Then again, the flight could be real and it had nothing to do with Swift.
After the report naming her the worst celebrity offender when it comes to CO2 emissions came out in 2022, a spokesperson for Swift told Newsweek that her jet is regularly loaned out to other people, and it is “blatantly incorrect,” to attribute all of that usage to her.
“So many plausible and legitimate reasons for this type of activity,” one person wrote in response to the video on X.
“Planes need maintenance, repairs and inspections, just like cars do, and by flying to the nearest airport that provides those services, she was probably actually reducing her carbon footprint,” another person suggested.
“Maybe the plane was hangared in a different airport and was called for a flight from a different location. Happens in aviation due to a lack of hangars for different sizes of planes or maintenance services,” was another explanation given on X.
“It’s likely a ‘repositioning flight,’ not entirely what you’re suggesting. Very common in private aviation when the planes follow an individual,” another person commented, adding, “Same ‘effect’ on the climate, though!”
Sure, making a 40-second flight, for any reason, probably isn’t good for the environment. But when countries like Brazil are clearing eight miles of Amazon rainforest to make room for a United Nations climate conference, it shows that hypocrisy regarding the climate is not limited to people like Taylor Swift. That doesn’t make it right though.