Taylor Swift accuses Scooter Braun of "manipulative bullying" after he acquires her music
Taylor Swift says she was "grossed out" by talent manager Scooter Braun's acquisition of her music catalog. Swift made the statement in a Tumblr post after Braun's media holding company, Ithaca Holdings LLC, acquired the company that owned her catalog.
Swift claimed she learned about the acquisition of Big Machine Label Group on Sunday "as it was announced to the world." She said the purchase was her "worst case scenario," since she doesn't own the rights to the music created while she was with the Big Machine Label Group.
She signed with the group at the age of 15. "I walked away because I knew once I signed that contract, Scott Borchetta (founder of Big Machine Label Group) would sell the label, thereby selling me and my future," she wrote. Borchetta later disputed Swift's version of how she found out about the deal.
Last November, Swift switched labels and signed with Universal Music Group in an effort to own her music moving forward, The Associated Press says. "This is what happens when you sign a deal at 15 to someone for whom the term 'loyalty' is clearly just a contractual concept," she wrote of Borchetta.
The pop superstar accused Braun of "manipulative bullying" and targeting her at various points in her career with the help of other celebrities. She accused Kim Kardashian West of having "orchestrated an illegally recorded snippet of a phone call to be leaked." She also accused Kanye West of having organized a revenge porn music video "which strips my body naked."
She included a picture in the post of pop star Justin Bieber, Kanye West, and Braun. She wrote on the photo, "This is Scooter Braun bullying me on social media when I was at my lowest point[.] He's about to own all the music I've ever made."
Both Bieber and Kanye West are Braun's clients.
According to the AP, Borchetta posted a statement Sunday night on the Big Machine Label Group's website saying he told Swift's father, Scott, and other shareholders in a call on Tuesday of the upcoming Ithaca Holdings deal. Borchetta said he texted Swift about the deal on Saturday "to inform her prior to the story breaking on the morning of Sunday, June 30th so she could hear it directly from me."
Borchetta said, "I guess it might somehow be possible that her dad Scott" and others who were on the call "didn't say anything to Taylor over the prior 5 days. I guess it's possible that she might not have seen my text. But, I truly doubt that she 'woke up to the news when everyone else did," ' Borchetta said.
Bieber posted on Instagram late Sunday apologizing for hurting her at the time and defending Braun who, he said, "didn't have anything to do with it" and has her back. "For you to take it to social media and get people to hate on (S)cooter isn't fair," Bieber said.
Braun's wife, Yael Cohen, also weighed in on Instagram challenging Swift's assertion that she learned of the deal when the rest of the world did. "Your dad is a shareholder and was notified and Borchetta personally told you before this came out," Cohen wrote. "My husband is anything but a Bully."
A representative for Swift didn't immediately respond to an Associated Press request for comment on Cohen's post.