A climate change activist seemingly attempted to self-immolate during a London tennis tournament.
The man — wearing an “End UK Private Jets” shirt — set his arm on fire after rushing the court during a Laver Cup match between Stefanos Tsitsipas and Diego Schwartzman on Friday, according to The Express.
However, if he was hoping to burn himself as an act of protest, the stunt flopped. The small fire burned for mere seconds before the screaming climate change extremist desperately patted it out.
Another small fire burned next to him on the court at the O2 Arena before security easily extinguished it with a jacket.
The man sat dejectedly on the court as security approached him and flopped in the arms of guards as they carried him away.
A man has set his arm on fire after invading the court at the Laver Cup on Roger Federer’s last day as a professional tennis player. pic.twitter.com/g0LcBU8PeJ
— Sam Street (@samstreetwrites) September 23, 2022
It’s not entirely clear if he was trying to burn himself or merely torch the court.
The group End UK Private Jets suggested in a tweet that the man set his arm on fire intentionally.
BREAKING NEWS
Kai, 20, set their arm on fire at #LaverCup
The liveable climate of our planet is collapsing. No one is taking it seriously.
Is humanity not worth saving?
Let’s get into resistance against this death machine.#EndUKPrivateJets pic.twitter.com/n81bXJtHsw— End UK Private Jets (@EndUKPrivateJet) September 23, 2022
Climate change extremists have set themselves on fire in political statements before. A 50-year-old man died after immolating himself in front of the Supreme Court in April, PBS reported.
The Laver Cup is organized by tennis legend Roger Federer. Federer has announced that this year’s tournament will be his final professional competition.
Drawing attention to elite hypocrisy over private jets is more than legitimate, but interrupting the farewell of one of the greatest tennis players of all time isn’t the right way to do it, even if he wasn’t playing at the time.
Federer is teaming up in a doubles match with his longtime rival Rafael Nadal in the final match of his storied career, according to CNN.
