Jared Leto Just Became the First Person to Legally Climb to the Top of the Empire State Building

Today in “Jared Leto climbing things,” the actor and musician became the first person to legally scale the Empire State Building on Thursday.

The official X/Twitter account for the skyscraper shared a video of Leto making the climb, and honestly, it does look pretty cool.

In 1933, King Kong climbed the Empire State Building.

In 2023, @JaredLeto took his place. pic.twitter.com/W0CTuZ6rQL

— Empire State Building (@EmpireStateBldg) November 9, 2023

If you’re wondering what exactly Leto is doing up there, it was apparently an attempt to promote his band 30 Seconds to Mars’ upcoming world tour, in addition to just crossing the item off his bucket list.

“The building is a testament of all the things that can be done in the world if we put our minds to it, which is largely the inspiration behind our most recent album, It’s The End Of The World But It’s A Beautiful Day,” Leto said in a press release, according to People Magazine.

Per Today, Leto was climbing for about 20 minutes, scaling floors 86-104 and ending up nearly 1,300 feet in the air. Empire State Building officials confirmed to EW that he’s the first person to legally achieve the feat.

"I was more excited than nervous, to tell you the truth," the Oscar-winner told Today after the stunt. "But I have to be honest, it was very, very hard. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be. Just the endurance that it took, the stamina that it took — and it was very sharp."

Leto was last seen scaling buildings back in June, when he was video-taped attempting to climb the luxurious Hotel De Rome in Berlin. Unlike Thursday's climb, however, Leto wasn’t wearing any kind of harness when scaling that building.

Of course, the next obvious question is where Leto will climb next: "Into bed," The Suicide Squad star joked to Today. "You climb right into bed." Fair enough.

Thumbnail credit: Roy Rochlin/Getty Images for Empire State Realty Trust

Alex Stedman is a Senior News Editor with IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she's not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.