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Taylor Swift’s furious public statement ignites feud

Taylor Swift’s accusations of “incessant, manipulative bullying” have ignited a feud involving everyone from Justin Bieber to Cara Delevigne.

Jessica Sager
5 min read
July 1, 2019 - 12:22PM
Taylor Swift. Picture: Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File
Taylor Swift. Picture: Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File

Taylor Swift has lashed out at the founder of her old record label Big Machine, Scott Borchetta and Justin Bieber’s manager Scooter Braun, after Borchetta sold the label and all of its rights — including Swift’s entire past six-album catalogue — to the talent manager.

Braun previously represented Swift’s nemesis Kanye West and currently boasts acts including Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande and Demi Lovato on his roster.

In the latest stunning development, Borchetta has penned a blog posted on the Big Machine record label website titled “So, It’s Time For Some Truth,” in which he refutes Swift’s claims that she was not given prior warning of the deal.

“Taylor had every chance in the world to own not just her master recordings, but every video, photograph, everything associated to her career. She chose to leave,” he writes.

He also published a private text he says Swift had sent him in November last year, announcing her intention to leave Big Machine records.

“Owning my masters was very important to me, but I’ve since realized that there are things that mean even more to me in the bigger picture. I had a choice whether to bet on my past or to bet on the future and I think knowing me, you can guess which one I chose,” Swift wrote in the text.

In a furious Tumblr post on Sunday, Swift, 29, accused Braun of being complicit with bullying she claims she suffered at the hands of West and Bieber, as well as blasting Borchetta’s business tactics regarding her first six records.

“For years I asked, pleaded for a chance to own my work. Instead, I was given an opportunity to sign back up to Big Machine Records and ‘earn’ one album back at a time, one for every new one I turned in,” she wrote. “I walked away because I knew once I signed that contract, Scott Borchetta would sell the label, thereby selling me and my future. I had to make the excruciating choice to leave behind my past. Music I wrote on my bedroom floor and videos I dreamed up and paid for from the money I earned playing in bars, then clubs, then arenas, then stadiums.”

Taylor Swift has lost control of her back catalogue. Picture: Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File
Taylor Swift has lost control of her back catalogue. Picture: Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File

She added, “Some fun facts about today’s news: I 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.” To illustrate her point, she included a screenshot of Braun, Bieber and West that Bieber posted to Instagram in August 2016:

Swift shared this screenshot with her Tumblr post.
Swift shared this screenshot with her Tumblr post.

The You Need to Calm Down singer accused Braun of being a party to Kim Kardashian’s infamous recording of Swift and West’s “snippet” of a phone call in which she appeared to give her blessing to the lyrics to his song Famous.

Kardashian posted the video to Snapchat after Swift denied giving West permission to use her name in the song. She later claimed she objected to being called “that b — h” in the track, a detail which wasn’t mentioned in Kardashian’s clip.

This all happened about a year after West and Swift appeared to publicly make up and reportedly even discussed a potential collaboration.

In her furious missive, Swift claimed that Kardashian’s video recording and release were illegal. She also pointed out that in the Famous music video, a wax figure of her likeness (and numerous others) appears nude, which she likened to “revenge porn.”

Scooter Braun now owns Taylor Swift’s entire back catalogue. Photo: Bennett Raglin/Getty Images for Fast Company
Scooter Braun now owns Taylor Swift’s entire back catalogue. Photo: Bennett Raglin/Getty Images for Fast Company

“Now Scooter has stripped me of my life’s work, that I wasn’t given an opportunity to buy,” she fumed. “Essentially, my musical legacy is about to lie in the hands of someone who tried to dismantle it.”

The singer described the predicament as her “worst case scenario” and lamented signing a record deal with Big Machine when she was just 15 years old and alluded that sexism was partly behind Borchetta’s decision to sell the label.

“When that man says ‘Music has value,’ he means its value is beholden to men who had no part in creating it,” she wrote. “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. Any time Scott Borchetta has heard the words ‘Scooter Braun’ escape my lips, it was when I was either crying or trying not to. He knew what he was doing; they both did. Controlling a woman who didn’t want to be associated with them. In perpetuity. That means forever.”

Justin Bieber has today responded to the furore, posting an old photo of he and Swift together to his Instagram account — along with a lengthy caption addressed directly to the singer.

SJustin Bieber and musician Taylor Swift attend the 2011 Teen Choice Awards.
SJustin Bieber and musician Taylor Swift attend the 2011 Teen Choice Awards.

Bieber posted a throwback selfie with Swift and claimed that Braun discouraged him from writing “Taylor Swift what up” on his Instagram caption. While the Baby singer was diplomatic, he also accused Swift, though gently, of trying to “get sympathy” with her blog post and that she used her platform to get her fans to bully Braun.

Model and actress Cara Delevigne commented under Bieber’s post, telling him he “should be lifting women up instead of tearing them down because you feel threatened.”

Swift signed with Republic Records in 2018.

She and Kanye West famously have feuded since he interrupted her at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. She later described her beef with him and his reality star wife as “lower than [she’d] ever felt in [her] life.”

Other artists, including Halsey, the band Haim and Swift’s friend Todrick Hall, have today come out in support of Swift:

While Scooter Braun’s wife Yael has called out the singer with a lengthy Instagram post of her own, accusing Swift of throwing an “embarrassing temper tantrum” because she “didn’t get her own way.” Toggle the arrow button on the right of the Instagram picture to read the rest of her statement:

“Don’t blame him because Kim caught you in a lie, it’s embarrassing, I know — but adults own up to their mistakes,” Yael wrote. “We learn and grow from them, we don’t divert blame and blur the lines of reality to suit our needs.”

Swift’s rep denied Yael’s assertions, telling People in a statement, “Scott Swift is not on the board of directors and has never been. On June 25, there was a shareholder phone call that Scott Swift did not participate in due to a very strict NDA that bound all shareholders and prohibited any discussion at all without risk of severe penalty.” The rep added that Scott didn’t join the call to avoid withholding information from Taylor. She also noted, “Taylor found out from the news articles when she woke up before seeing any text from Scott Borchetta and he did not call her in advance.”

This story originally appeared on Fox News and is republished here with permission.

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Original URL: https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/music/taylor-swifts-furious-public-statement-ignites-feud/news-story/ed9b5e64a96f8edb44ef99fb488fbac9