Taylor Swift’s canceled concerts in Vienna during her Eras 2024 tour were the result of a foiled terrorist plot, and now the man behind it has pleaded guilty.
Identified only as Beran A under Austrian privacy laws, the defendant admitted on the opening day of his trial to planning an attack at Vienna’s Ernst Happel Stadium, where Swift was scheduled to perform three sold-out concerts, according to Sky News.
Weekly Entertainment reported that he intended to “kill as many people as possible” as part of the attack plot.
The planned assault forced Swift to cancel her August 2024 shows, a decision she later described as “devastating” but necessary to protect fans.
“The reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of fear and enormous guilt because so many people had planned to come to these shows,” Swift wrote on Instagram at the time.
Authorities arrested Beran A and two other suspects before the concerts, citing reports that the group was planning coordinated attacks during Ramadan.
CIA Deputy Director David S. Cohen later said The New York Timesconfirmed that U.S. intelligence helped Austrian officials disrupt the plan.
Swift said a few weeks later that she was “grateful to the authorities because thanks to them we were mourning concerts and not lives.”
She stressed that her priority was to complete the European leg of the tour safely, which she ultimately did.
Beran A’s trial is expected to continue until May 12, with co-defendant Arda K, a Slovak national, also facing charges.
