Almost two years after the Taylor Swift and Scooter Braun feud, the 40-year-old manager has opened up about what he says really went down between them.
In case you don’t know, here is a quick rundown of the previous events. It all started after Scooter dropped a whopping $300 million to purchase Big Machine Label Group and its music catalog through his holding company Ithaca Ventures. This million-dollar purchase included the masters for Florida Georgia Line, Thomas Rhett… and everything Swift produced on her first six albums.
Of course, the pop sensation wasn’t thrilled about it. Taylor later expressed how she was “sad and grossed out” by the sale, which she supposedly found out about along with the rest of the world. She called out Scooter for the “incessant, manipulative bullying” throughout her career. Even more so, the Cats alum shared how she was never given the chance to buy back her own music before it all went to Braun.
Then, in November 2020, the record executive actually sold Taylor’s master recordings to Shamrock. And while she expressed her disappointment again about the secret deal, it still didn’t stop the songwriter from getting her own kind of victory — by re-recording her old albums. And things have remained semi-quiet… until now!
In a new interview with Variety, Scooter decided to break his silence on the messy situation. The New York native started out with a bold position — that Taylor has been lying to her fans and that he offered to sell her music back to her:
“I regret and it makes me sad that Taylor had that reaction to the deal. … All of what happened has been very confusing and not based on anything factual. I don’t know what story she was told. I asked for her to sit down with me several times, but she refused. I offered to sell her the catalog back and went under NDA, but her team refused.”
When he sold her masters to someone else, Swift specifically noted how the businessman “would never even quote my team a price” and the NDA would “silence forever.” He’s clearly now flat-out DENYING that. Wow. But if she was telling the truth about the NDA, she can’t really contradict him now, can she?
Damn. Scooter may as well have finished this statement with little snake emojis. He continued:
“It all seems very unfortunate. Open communication is important and can lead to understanding. She and I only met briefly three or four times in the past, and all our interactions were really friendly and kind. I find her to be an incredibly talented artist and wish her nothing but the best.”
Oh man, and he’s high-roading her, too?? Making himself look like the good guy here?
He then added what hurt the most about the whole ordeal was being called a “bully” by the Willow hitmaker for taking the rights to her catalog:
“The thing that struck me the worst is the word ‘bully.’ I’m firmly against anyone ever being bullied. I always try to lead with appreciation and understanding. The one thing I’m proudest of in that moment was that my artists and team stood by me. They know my character and my truth. That meant a lot to me. In the long run, I’m happy for my life’s work to be the legacy I leave behind.”
He isn’t wrong. Big clients Justin Bieber and Demi Lovato came out caping for him despite the bad press. We can’t think of anyone on his side whose career wasn’t in his hands, but that’s something.
Finally, Braun said his moves were just “misunderstood” — and essentially implied what he was doing was just too clever for all the normal people to understand:
“I think when you’re successful, you are misunderstood. Success is a game of chess, and sometimes on that chessboard, people don’t see what you’re doing until four or five moves in. There’s always going to be misconceptions because people want to see things the way they want to see them. But it would be really nice if we all give each other a little bit of grace.”
Countdown to Taylor Swift writing a really amazing revenge track called A Little Bit Of Grace.
Reactions to what Scooter had to say about his drama with Taylor, Perezcious readers? Do you think Tay will clap back like she has in the past — or is she too much at peace to get back into the feud? Let us know in the comments (below)!
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