Protester Glues Himself to Floor at U.S. Open

The U.S. Open women's semifinal between Coco Gauff and Karolina Muchova was delayed for more than 40 minutes on Thursday after environmental protesters disrupted the match, including one in the group who glued his bare feet to the concrete floor of Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York City.

All three demonstrators wore shirts that read, "End Fossil Fuels," and began chanting the phrase repeatedly to interrupt the match's second set. At the time, Gauff was leading 6-4, 1-0.

A video captured by Matt Majendie, sports journalist for the Evening Standard, shows a U.S. Open staffer going up to confront the protesters, who were sitting in the upper levels of the stadium. Eventually, other members of the crowd begin to boo loudly over the demonstration.

Two of the protesters were escorted out of the stadium fairly quickly by security members. But the demonstrator who glued his feet to the ground took much longer to remove. In a photo shared to X, formerly Twitter, by television writer Jack Ciapciak, the demonstrator is shown sitting down in the stands and looking forward while his feet are flat on the floor.

Another photo shared to X by Majendie shows the same demonstrator with his hands cuffed behind his back while roughly a dozen New York Police Department (NYPD) officers attempt to remove his glued feet. Eventually, around 35 minutes after the chanting began, the demonstrator was removed.

One of the protesters who spoke with the Associated Press (AP) and would only identify himself as Ian, said the group wanted to hold the U.S. Open "accountable" due to its sponsorship from large corporations that contribute to global warming.

"We are not trying to harm the athletes in any way," he added. "We have nothing against the sport, but we are really trying to draw attention to an issue here that there will be no tennis left for anybody in the world to enjoy."

The NYPD told Newsweek Thursday night that the two male protesters were taken into custody and that related charges in the incident are "pending."

Gauff went on to beat Muchaova 7-5 in the second set.

Climate activists have repeatedly made headlines in recent months by interrupting major sporting events across the globe, including the Mubadala Citi DC Open in Washington, D.C., tennis tournament in August, when around a dozen people were asked to leave the event after chanting and holding up signs that protested the use of fossil fuels.

In July, three demonstrators were arrested after interrupting two separate matches during Wimbledon, the oldest tennis tournament in the world. According to a report from the Associated Press (AP), two people at the prestigious Grand Slam event in London, England, wearing Just Stop Oil shirts—a UK-based coalition pushing the British government to halt new oil, gas and coal projects—jumped out of the stands and spread orange confetti and puzzle pieces onto the grass court, impeding a match between Grigor Dimitrov and Sho Shimabukuro.

Another man was arrested for interrupting the following Wimbledon match on the same court. He also was with Just Stop Oil, AP reported.

In June, two Just Stop Oil protesters were removed from a sporting event after attempting to spread orange powder onto the field during an Ashes cricket match in London. Players from England and Australia interrupted the protest, including English wicketkeeper Johnny Bairstow, who tackled one of the protesters.