Taylor Swift vs. Scooter Braun

Overview

Taylor Swift vs. Scooter Braun refers to a controversy over pop star Taylor Swift's masters after Scooter Braun acquired Big Machine Label Group (BMLG) in June 2019. Swift claimed to have been pressured into signing away her ownership of the masters while BMLG and its affiliates asserted that Swift passed up the opportunity willingly, leading many celebrities to take sides and share their own experiences with BMLG owner Scooter Braun.

Background

On June 30th, 2019 Billboard^[1] reported that "Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings has agreed to acquire Scott Borchetta’s Big Machine Label Group in a blockbuster deal backed by the Carlyle Group." That day, after the announcement, Taylor Swift posted a long note to Tumblr ^[2](shown below). The post features Justin Bieber's previous post which she claims was bullying ad then writes that she was not able to obtain her masters and that now a bully owns them. Her terms were that she would be able to obtain the masters one by one with every new record released with the label. She also claims that she heard about the companies acquisition through the news.

Notable Developments

On June 30th, 2019, Justin Bieber replied on Instagram^[3] by defending Scooter Braun and apologizing for the initial Instagram post Swift included in her blog which has since been taken down (shown below). Bieber explains that he doesn't understand why she would take this issue online and not have a private conversation.

That same day, Scooter Braun's wife, Yael Braun posted a note to Instagram^[4] calling Swift's post a temper tantrum and defending Braun's character (shown below). She also claims that Braun has nothing but support Swift throughout her career and that she should engage in a private conversation with her and the company on the subject.

On June 30th, Twitter user Yashar Ali^[8] posted a thread showcasing different celebrities reacting to the controversy. The Twitter thread includes pop start Todrick Hall's response saying that Scooter Braun is "evil" and "homophobic" (shown below, left). Demi Lovato Responded to Hall's tweets defending Braun (shown below, right).

That same day, in a BMLG^[5] blog post, Scott Borchetta responded to Taylor Swift by sharing their conversations and legal documunentation (shown below). He writes:

"As to her comments about ‘being in tears or close to it’ anytime my new partner Scooter Braun’s name was brought up, I certainly never experienced that. Was I aware of some prior issues between Taylor and Justin Bieber? Yes. But there were also times where Taylor knew that I was close to Scooter and that Scooter was a very good source of information for upcoming album releases, tours, etc, and I’d reach out to him for information on our behalf. Scooter was never anything but positive about Taylor. He called me directly about Manchester to see if Taylor would participate (she declined).
He called me directly to see if Taylor wanted to participate in the Parkland March (she declined). Scooter has always been and will continue to be a supporter and honest custodian for Taylor and her music. "

That night, Scooter Braun's only response was through sharing Instagram^[6] Stories that defend his character as shown below in Yashar Ali's^[8] thread. Other celebrities like Halsey, Cara Delevigne, Haim (also Danielle Haim), Iggy Azalea, Sky Ferreira, Jack Antonoff, Martha Hunt, Mandy Teefey, Alessia Cara, Charlie Puth, Sia and Cher have picked sides.^[7]

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References