Student tracking Taylor Swift’s private jet responds to cease and desist
NEW YORK — The college student who made a name — and enemy — for himself tracking Taylor Swift’s private jet is challenging the pop star’s cease and desist letter.
Jack Sweeney, who runs the company GRNDCTRL and ran the now-defunct Instagram account @taylorswiftjets, tweeted his lawyer’s two-page response to Swift’s attorney, Katie Wright Morrone, captioning the letter: “Look What You Made Me Do.” The caption, as Swifties know, was the title of the lead single from the 2017 album “Reputation.”
“Put simply, there is nothing unlawful about GRNDCTRL’s use of publicly accessible information to track private jets, including those used by public figures like Taylor Swift,” states Sweeney’s lawyer, James Slater. “GRNDCTRL used the same information to track sanctioned Russian oligarchs and Elon Musk. … The @taylorswiftjets account is engaged in protected speech that does not violate any of Ms. Swift’s legal rights.”
Sweeney’s camp points out that Morrone failed “to identify any legal claim.
“Only in a footnote … do you flirt with asserting a stalking claim under California law — but the language just before the words you quote explains that a stalker is someone who makes a ‘credible threat’ against a victim,” continues Slater.
In addition to Sweeney and his company having “never made any threats against” the “Anti-Hero” singer, Slater notes that the Morrone’s letter “does not suggest they have done so.
“Further, your letter’s tone of alarm is unfounded,” Slater continues, noting GRNDCTRL “only provides the location of private jets using publicly available information” which “poses no threat” to the superstar.
Slater dismissed Swift’s letter as “a groundless effort to intimidate and censor” Sweeney and his company and pledged to defend both should she “pursue meritless legal action.”
In a subsequent tweet, the University of Central Florida student also shared Morrone’s letter to him from Dec. 22 of last year.
Swift has recently faced renewed criticism for her significant carbon footprint, especially as the flight tracker battle takes center stage. Last month, she sold one of her private jets.
Morrone in her letter called the tracking of Swift’s jets a “life-or-death matter,” claiming there’s “no legitimate interest in or public need for this information, other than to stalk, harass, and exert dominion and control.”
Swift has indeed been stalked multiple times — including as recently as earlier this year, when superfan David Crowe allegedly repeatedly showed up at her Tribeca town house.
News
‘I consider myself a homemaker’: Julia Roberts details ‘pride’ over decision to step back from spotlight to raise her three children and laments the lack of good romcoms in recent years
Julia Roberts was once the queen of the romantic comedy, though she hasn’t made one in more than 20 years… until her new project Ticket to Paradise. The 54-year-old…
Is Nicolas Cage underneath all that fur? The beard hid a legend and was unrecognizable at the movie premiere.
Laurence Fishburne and Nicolas Cage (Credit: Emma McIntyre/Getty Images) Is that Nicolas Cage underneath all that fur? Apparently it was, as the idiosyncratic screen legend attended to…
Weston Cage, Son of Nicolas Cage, Under Police Investigation for Alleged Attack on Mother
Weston is Nicolas’ oldest child and his only with Christina Fulton From L: Nicolas Cage, Weston Cage and Christina Fulton. PHOTO: JOHN SHEARER/WIREIMAGE; GABRIEL OLSEN/FILMMAGIC; ROBIN L MARSHALL/GETTY Weston…
Nicolas Cage, FKA Twigs & Noah Jupe in ‘The Carpenter’s Son’ – Cannes Hot Project
Nicolas Cage, FKA twigs, Noah Jupe, Souheila YacoubGetty Images, Pip Nicolas Cage, FKA twigs, Noah Jupe and Souheila Yacoub are set to star in Egyptian-American director Lotfy Nathan’s The Carpenter’s Son exploring the…
Nicolas Cage Takes on Unique Role in Horror Film: Jesus’ Childhood Story in Production
Nicolas Cage Horror Movie Involving Jesus’ Childhood Being Produced US actor Nicolas Cage attends the premiere of “Renfield” in New York City on March 28, 2023. (Photo ……
Octavia Spencer and Isabela Moner Join Mark Wahlberg’s ‘Instant Family
Octavia Spencer, Isabela Moner, Tig Notaro, Iliza Shlesinger, and Tom Segura have joined Mark Wahlberg and Rose Byrne in the Paramount comedy “Instant Family.” Wahlberg and Byrne will play…
End of content
No more pages to load