Taylor Swift: Woman with stoma criticizes Wembley Stadium

An influencer with a chronic illness who uses an ostomy bag said she felt she could not “drink or move” during a Taylor Swift concert after being criticised and “shoved” by members of the audience while she was there.

Holly Fleet, 30, known online as StomaBabe, said in a post on X that she was “treated with disdain” when returning to her seat in the crowd at the London show despite explaining she had an illness, and was “continuously shoved” by a parent because she refused to take off a backpack containing medical supplies.

She also said that she was not given any instructions about bringing medication and drinks with her to Wembley Stadium before the event and that there were not enough accessible toilets available during the concert.

A stadium spokesman expressed regret over the incident involving Ms Fleet, adding that Wembley was “committed to providing an inclusive experience for all disabled guests”.

Ms Fleet, from north London, said she had bought a VIP standing ticket for the June 22 concert because she believed that due to Taylor Swift’s popularity, there would be no handicapped seating available.

She told BBC London that she had to empty her ostomy bag regularly and drink often because she was prone to dehydration due to the operation.

She said that at previous performances, it had not been that difficult to “get in and out” and she “didn’t think people would mind too much” – especially given that Swift’s performance would last several hours.

However, Ms Fleet said when she went to get drinks and bring them back, “I must have been attacked by about four different people because of it”.

She also stated that two women repeatedly pushed her in front of her children because she was carrying a backpack containing medication.

“I had my backpack on. One of them patted me on the back and said, ‘Can you please take it off?’ And I said, ‘No, there’s medical stuff in there, so I can’t take it off.’ … And then she just pushed me … really pushed me. And these were two mothers, both of them with their teenage daughters.”

Ms Fleet claimed that when she turned around to ask what was wrong, the woman laughed at her and then continued to push her, which left her “really upset”.

“I had to go behind her because I couldn’t stand being pushed like that,” she said.

“I felt like I couldn’t drink anything, I couldn’t carry my backpack, I couldn’t go to the bathroom. Everything felt so awful,” she said.

“I felt like I couldn’t drink, I couldn’t move.”

Ms Fleet, who also has ADHD, said she eventually “felt so overwhelmed by the whole thing that I literally stopped doing it.”

She said despite wearing an invisible sunflower disability wristband on the way to and from the toilet, one woman took issue with it when she returned to her seat with her friend, telling Ms Fleet: “We’ve been here for hours” and accusing her of behaving “disgracefully”.

“I was a little depressed when I got home. I was crying and stuff because I thought: ‘Is it always going to be like this, am I always going to have to experience this?’ Maybe I’ll never be able to go to concerts again now.”