A security guard who went viral after he was filmed singing along at a Taylor Swift concert has claimed he has since been fired by the firm he was working for.
Calvin Denker was seen joining in with the song Cruel Summer in footage from one of Swift‘s shows in Minneapolis, Minnesota, at the end of June.
However, he has now told followers on TikTok that he was subsequently fired by BEST, the company he was working for.
Image: Pic: AP
While the company did not have a problem with his singing, bosses were apparently unhappy as he had passed notes out to crowd members asking them to send him any photos or footage showing him in front of the singer while she was on stage.
“Long story short, I was fired for it,” Mr Denker told his followers in a video posted on social media. “My former security company said that they had a rule against taking photos with any of their performers…
“Every photo of me from that night was from behind the barricade, like any other photo from a fan would be. I never took my own phone out. And above all else, I made sure that Taylor Swift was safe and all the fans had a good time.”
He finished his message by asking followers to refrain from “sending any hate to this company… I still got to work one of the coolest concerts ever… so that is fantastic. And I hold no grudges against my employer”.
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After footage of Mr Denker went viral, he released a video explaining why he wanted the job and how he asked fans for photos.
It appears his former employer came across this and realised he had broken their rules.
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‘I wasn’t allowed to turn my back’
He said: “So five years ago, I went to [Swift’s last tour] Reputation with my then girlfriend, now wife, who wasn’t the biggest fan of Taylor Swift at the time, so I kind of had to drag her along.
“But I got to talk to a lot of the security guards that night and learn about what positions they can work and how they get to go to a lot of these concerts and any of the sporting events in Minneapolis. And that sounded so cool to me.”
Image: Taylor Swift fans buy concert merchandise during her Eras tour. Pic: Scott Strazzante/San Francisco Chronicle via AP
Mr Denker said Swift gigs were always the “goal” when he got the job, adding: “When she announced her Eras tour, I was so excited and I signed up as soon as I possibly could.”
He said he was “amazed” on the first of Swift’s shows in Minneapolis as the “fans were so loud and Taylor was phenomenal”.
However, Mr Denker explained: “I wasn’t allowed to turn my back to the crowd and really watch Taylor perform… After night one, I was realising how close Taylor Swift was getting to me so I really wanted to get a photo to document it.
“I handed out these little pieces of paper that said I wasn’t allowed to have my phone out but if Taylor Swift comes right behind me, please take a photo of me and text it to my number.
“I handed this out to a couple of people in the front row for night two, and they were really kind and really sweet about it.”
Sky News has contacted BEST for comment, as well as representatives for Swift.
The American president cannot tell the Federal Reserve chair what to do – and that is by design.
But Trump could fire Powell if he chose to – unprecedented as that would be.
You only need to look at the market reaction to Trump’s language about Powell for a hint at how his firing would impact the global economy.
“Powell’s termination can’t come fast enough,” Trump said last week.
On Monday, he called Powell a “major loser”. This schoolyard language has global economic implications.
The markets – including the all-important bond markets – reacted with sell-offs at the end of the day.
Image: Donald Trump leaves the Rose Garden after announcing Jay Powell as his nominee to become chairman of the US Federal Reserve in 2017. File pic: Reuters
Powell is a registered Republican. Trump hired him as Fed Reserve Chair during his first term but the relationship became fractious, fast.
Yet Trump did not remove him back then.
The position has a four-year term and President Joe Biden nominated him to a second term in 2022. That gives him until 2026.
Trump sees Powell increasingly as a barrier to his agenda. Trump’s ‘burn hot’ economy ideology does not align with Powell’s more pragmatic centrist ideology.
He is unable to influence and bend Powell in the way that he has done with his own cabinet and members of Congress.
In his first term, Trump was talked out of removing Powell. But we know this second term is wholly different. He was talked away from the edge on many issues during his first term. This time, in many areas, he’s jumped.
Remember, Trump forced out two FBI directors – one in each term – because neither was considered to be loyal enough. The FBI, like the Federal Reserve, is considered traditionally to be independent.
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13:27
Could Trump make a deal with the UK?
Of course, the Federal Reserve has a profound global influence in a way the FBI, as an institution, does not.
The fed chair, with his role in setting interest rates and so much more, is arguably the last powerful, independent pillar of the economic policy structure in the US.
Congress has largely devolved its role to Trump and the executive branch, as illustrated by his tariff plans (which Congress could have influenced but chose not to).
Donald Trump’s removal of Jay Powell and replacement with a compliant loyalist could fundamentally shake the global economy.
Powell is one of the few reliable actors left defending economic stability in the US
Donald Trump’sdisparagement of Jay Powell as a “major loser” is not the first time he has insulted the man he appointed as chair of the US Federal Reserve in 2018.
The president appears to have had buyer’s remorse from the moment he approved the former investment banker to fill a post that is fundamental to US economic stability.
Trump was calling for the Fed to cut rates and stimulate the economy long before he was re-elected, but online barbs have more consequence when fired from the Oval Office than the campaign trail.
Equivalent to the Governor of the Bank of England, the chair of the Federal Reserve ultimately directs US monetary policy, including the setting of short-term interest rates, with the aim of maintaining high employment and stable inflation.
That makes Powell a crucial figure amid the chaos and incoherence of Trump’s economic policy, which in less than 90 days has shattered the certainties that made America the world’s largest economy, and the dollar the global reserve currency.
Image: Jay Powell speaks to the media in March. File pic: Reuters
The market reaction to Trump’s venting against Powell, and briefing that his administration is considering ways to remove him from office, suggests investors fear it will make a bad situation worse.
As traders returned from the Easter weekend with the president’s criticism of Powell ringing in their ears, the “Trump slump” deepened.
US stocks and the dollar fell, while yields on US Treasuries – the mechanism by which the government borrows money – rose, indicative of falling bond prices as investors dumped US debt.
Gold prices, meanwhile, hit a record $3,500 an ounce as investors piled into what remains the pre-eminent “safe haven” asset in times of uncertainty.
The combination of falling equity, currency and bond prices is a toxic trifecta more usually associated with emerging economies in political crisis, not the mighty United States.
We saw something similar here in 2022, when Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng’s unfunded tax cuts, presented without an independent assessment from the Office for Budget Responsibility, caused a run on the gilt market.
Then it was the Bank of England that stepped in to stabilise the bond market.
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1:03
How will tariffs impact you?
What’s happening in the US is both bigger and more consequential.
Trump’s tariff program, seemingly imposed and withdrawn by presidential whim, has already proved disastrous for market sentiment, with expectations of higher inflation and lower growth, at home and globally, set to be confirmed by the International Monetary Fund in Washington this week.
Powell and the Fed are among the few reliable actors in this drama, with markets betting their next meeting in May will see rates held, in part because of inflationary policy made in the White House.
The prospect of Powell being replaced by a more pliant figure hand-picked by Trump would pull another block from the wobbling Jenga tower of US economic credibility.
The independence of the Fed is one of the foundations of American stability, an assumption that underpins the $29 trillion Treasuries market that makes the world’s debt go round.
If investors large and small, state and private, fear that the US is not good for that debt, it could be calamitous for American pre-eminence and the global economy.
Powell’s term ends in 2026 and he believes he cannot be removed by presidential decree.
That does not mean he will not face more pressure to stand aside.
Elon Musk has said the time he spends with Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) will “drop significantly” from May and he will allocate more time to Tesla.
It comes after first-quarter profits at Tesla sank as the company grapples with falling sales, partly due to President Trump’s tariffs.
As a special government employee, Mr Musk was limited to 130 days in his role at DOGE, which is primarily aimed at slashing federal spending.
But the cuts, which included axing government jobs, have divided the country and prompted a backlash against his company, including protests and attacks on Tesla showrooms, prompting Donald Trump to label the vandals “terrorists”.
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0:36
‘Elon Musk has got to go’
Tesla said on Tuesday that quarterly profits fell by 71% to $409m (£306.77m) from $1.39bn (£1.04bn) in the first quarter of 2024. Revenues were also well below forecasts, dropping 9% to $19.3bn (£14.5bn) between January and March.
The company’s value has plummeted since reaching a record high in mid-December. Since then, Tesla’s share price has fallen more than 50%.
Tesla’s share price has tumbled following the financial market turbulence caused by the global trade war tariffs, competition from Chinese EV rivals and concern over Mr Musk’s ability to give the firm the attention it requires.
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Mr Musk’s role as chief executive of the company was among the most common questions shareholders were asking about in a question-and-answer portal ahead of an investor call on Tuesday evening.
As well as his role at the top of Tesla, he is also the CEO of space exploration company SpaceX and owns social media company X, formerly known as Twitter.
Image: Donald Trump hired Elon Musk to help cut federal spending, but Tesla has faced a public backlash. Pic: AP
Musk has ‘lost focus’
An early Tesla investor Ross Gerber said in a recent interview with Sky’s Business Live that Mr Musk had lost his focus and was now too “divisive”.
There has been no clear sign of improvement at Tesla as much-awaited updates on making affordable cars and developing driverless technology left some questions unanswered.
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6:41
‘I think Tesla needs a new CEO’
Work on an affordable car remained “on track for start of production in the first half of 2025”, Tesla’s financial results said, but no details on a prototype were given.
Production of Tesla’s self-driving robotaxi, named Cybercab, is scheduled to start in 2026.
Tariffs harming outlook
Uncertainty was also evident in the outlook statement, which pointed to the harm tariffs could pose to the business.
“It is difficult to measure the impacts of shifting global trade policy on the automotive and energy supply chains, our cost structure and demand for durable goods and related services,”
“The rate of growth this year will depend on a variety of factors, including the rate of acceleration of our autonomy efforts, production ramp at our factories and the broader macroeconomic environment”.
While Teslas are made in the US, there are also factories in China and Germany. Under the tariff regime, those car parts are subject to additional taxes when they enter America.
A bag belonging to the US Homeland Security Secretary was stolen on Sunday night – containing thousands of dollars in cash and an ID card that gives access to secure agency buildings.
Kristi Noem was eating at a Washington DC burger restaurant with family when a man in a face covering sat near her table and stole her purse, according to two people familiar with the theft.
The cabinet secretary was carrying $3,000 (£2,243) in cash because “her entire family was in town including her children and grandchildren”, Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told NBC.
“She was using the withdrawal to treat her family to dinner, activities and Easter gifts.”
Image: The purse contained her ID card. Reuters file pic
Just before 8pm, a man wearing an N-95 mask walked into the restaurant and up a few stairs to where Ms Noem was eating dinner.
He sat near her table and moved his chair close to hers before sliding her purse toward him with his foot, according to surveillance footage viewed by law enforcement, the sources said.
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Within minutes, the man had Ms Noem’s purse under his jacket and walked out of the restaurant.
At least two on-duty members of the US Secret Service were in the restaurant – between Ms Noem and the front doors – according to a source who witnessed the meal.
They said the restaurant wasn’t very busy at the time.
The purse also contained credit cards, blank cheques, her passport, driver’s licence and a set of keys.
It’s unclear whether Ms Noem was specifically targeted – and investigators are looking into whether the man knew who the purse belonged to.
When asked about the incident, Ms Noem said: “I don’t think I can comment on it yet. It’s not resolved yet.”
She said the Secret Service was aware but said she hadn’t spoken to agency personnel about what happened.
Ms Noem is a vocal supporter of Donald Trump’s policies of deporting undocumented immigrants and fortifying the US-Mexico border to slow illegal migration.