On Thursday, climate extremists succeeded in disrupting a U.S. Open semifinal match at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York. Play had to be suspended for just under an hour in the match between Coco Gauff and Karolina Muchova, while police arrested four climate extremists.
The climate mental patients at Extinction Rebellion (XR) were thrilled to take responsibility for the stunt. One of the protesters glued his feet to the floor at the venue, while the other three chanted inane slogans while wearing T-shirts with the slogan “END FOSSIL FUELS.”
Furious members of the crowd jeered the protesters with chants of “You suck!” and “‘F*** you!”
“Today’s action highlights the neglect of the climate and ecological breakdown by governments and corporations,” XR said in a statement. “The group emphasizes that the present socio-economic system can’t protect people from the crises to come, because its very structure creates these crises and then ignores them.”
“The extremely short-term incentives of our key institutions — corporations and governments, which respectively function on quarterly profits and periodic elections, disregard the long-term dangers to our survival. This system is committed to stealing from future generations to sustain a lifestyle that primarily benefits the few (the so-called ‘one percent’),” the group added.
XR threatened more such actions should the government fail to keep global temperatures from rising 1.5 degrees Celsius.
“Tennis-as-usual won’t be possible on a planet in which humanity fails to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius. If activists don’t disrupt these games, the climate will,” they said.
XR placed blame on the Biden administration for not doing enough to halt the imaginary problem of emissions-related climate change.
“President Joe Biden has not lived up to his climate pledges and rhetoric made during the 2020 election campaign,” they complained. “Even those failed pledges are considered by many to be ineffective and weak: policies such as electric cars, carbon capture, or expanded renewables do not adequately resolve the catastrophe that looms.”
XR claimed that the U.S. Open protest is only a warmup for another event scheduled later this month.
“This protest is a prelude to the ‘Biden: End Fossil Fuels’ mass march scheduled to take place in New York City on September 17th,” they stated.
Gauff, a 19-year-old American, would eventually win the match in straight sets, 6-4, 7-5. Asked about the protest after the match, the young tennis star couldn’t be angry at the protesters.
“I believe in climate change,” Gauff told the media. “I don’t know exactly what they were protesting. I know it was about the environment. I 100% believe in that. I think there’s things that we can do better…. Would I prefer it not happening in my match? 100% …. but it is what it is…. Moments like this are history-defining moments…. I wasn’t p***ed at the protesters…. I always speak about preaching about what you feel and what you believe in and it was done in a peaceful way so I can’t get too mad (about) it…. If that’s what they felt they needed to do to get their voices heard, I can’t really get upset at it.”
Steve Milloy of JunkScience.com pointed out some of the reasons fossil fuel is necessary for Gauff’s burgeoning tennis career.
“Earth to CoCo,” Milloy posted on X. “If there were no fossil fuels, there would be no tennis, no spectators, no prize money and no endorsements.”
Extinction Rebellion has garnered notoriety for protests at tennis matches globally, including the French Open. In addition, they’ve claimed responsibility for attacks on art pieces at museums by throwing cans of soup at paintings or gluing themselves to works of art.
One former spokesperson for the group has claimed she witnessed “brainwashing” within the organization.
“When a movement that bills itself as compassionate and democratic seems to rely so heavily on messianic figures trading in doom and gloom, you have to ask yourself: Is this really the most ethical way to change the world?” Zion Lights, a former spokesperson for the group, said earlier this year.
Whether Extinction Rebellion is actually a “cult” is in the eye of the beholder. Still, the world of tennis may want to rethink its security situation since it finds itself in XR’s crosshairs. The sport has a sad history of allowing mentally unstable individuals to get too close to the action. Consider the 1993 attack on women’s number-one player Monica Seles. Seles was stabbed by a crazed fan of rival Steffi Graf. While Seles would survive the incident, she never regained her once dominant form after the attack.
With their cult-like obsession to climate-change politics, it might be only a matter of time until XR’s mentally unstable adherents attempt something more serious than gluing themselves to the court.
