The drama between Taylor Swift and Scooter Braun has pulled a lot of celebrities into its orbit.
Over the weekend, Swift posted a lengthy update to Tumblr about her masters, which music manager Scooter Braun purchased for $300 million from her former label Big Machine Label Group. She said she “learned about Scooter Braun’s purchase of my masters as it was announced to the world. All I could think about was the incessant, manipulative bullying I’ve received at his hands for years.” Part of that past bullying, she says, came from Braun associates Kim Kardashian and Kanye West.
Swift’s defenders quickly descended, firing up various fan accounts. Swift also called out Big Machine CEO Scott Borchetta for selling the masters to Braun: “When I left my masters in Scott’s hands, I made peace with the fact that eventually he would sell them. Never in my worst nightmares did I imagine the buyer would be Scooter.” Borchetta posted a rebuttal to the Big Machine website, saying he was never aware of any issues between Swift and Braun and that Swift had the chance to control her masters but walked away. He also posted a text message he sent to Swift the day before the sale giving her a heads up.
After Braun’s wife posted a defense of her husband, some fans noticed that singer Kacey Musgraves liked the post, and started digging into her. She reportedly blocked them. Katharine McPhee faced a similar front for her support for Braun.
https://twitter.com/ForyouIdid13/status/1145709266835136513
Braun’s longtime client Justin Bieber posted a catty Instagram post (which Swift included in her Tumblr post) then apologized for it, saying he thought it was funny “at the time.” Cara Delevingne swooped into the comments to address Bieber and his wife Hailey Baldwin, who called her husband a “gentleman” for apologizing to Swift: “I wish you spent less time sticking up for men and more time trying to understand women and respecting their valid reactions.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BzWYdS9Hj5R/?utm_source=ig_embed
Demi Lovato, a new client of Braun’s, posted to Instagram to defend him and ask for the “bullying” to stop. Todrick Hall, who appears in Swift’s video for “You Need to Calm Down,” shot back and talked about his own experience with Braun, saying he’s an “evil person” and also homophobic.
https://twitter.com/todrick/status/1145479493521420288
https://twitter.com/todrick/status/1145485724990496773
Halsey showed her support for Swift, posting that “it turns my guts that no matter how much power or success a woman has in this life, you are still susceptible to someone coming along and making you feel powerless out of spite.”
🦋 @taylorswift13 pic.twitter.com/1iI2tCr8my
— h (@halsey) June 30, 2019
Swift signed a deal with Universal Music Group imprint Republic Records in November, and it will be releasing her new album Lover in August. There are petitions (one was signed by Katy Perry) to get Swift to rerelease the six albums Braun now owns though it’s not clear if Swift will be resorting to legal action. Her Tumblr post states: “I left my past in Scott’s hands and not my future.”
READ MORE:
- There’s a typo in Taylor Swift’s new merchandise that has fans perplexed
- Taylor Swift’s Beyoncé ripoff wasn’t just blatant—it was hurtful
Got five minutes? We’d love to hear from you. Help shape our journalism and be entered to win an Amazon gift card by filling out our 2019 reader survey.
