Justin Bieber has leapt to the defense of his manager Scooter Braun in response to Taylor Swift’s Tumblr post denouncing his purchase of all her old music masters.
The Canadian singer first apologized to Swift for a 2016 Instagram in which he’s seen with Braun and Kanye West, a post she accused him Sunday of sharing as a way to bully her.
But Bieber then went on in his Instagram post to question why she would use social media to attack Braun for his $300 million purchase of Big Machine Label Group, saying she knew it would prompt her fans ‘to hate on’ the music manager.
‘For you to take it to social media and get people to hate on scooter isn’t fair. What were you trying to accomplish by posting that blog?’ he wrote. ‘seems to me like it was to get sympathy u also knew that in posting that your fans would go and bully scooter.’
Justin Bieber has leapt to the defense of his manager Scooter Braun in response to Taylor Swift’s Tumblr post denouncing his purchase of all her old music masters
‘For you to take it to social media and get people to hate on scooter isn’t fair. What were you trying to accomplish by posting that blog?’ Bieber wrote. He’s pictured with Braun in 2017
The Sorry hitmaker wrote his response in the caption next to a throwback photo of himself and Swift together, showing both of them looking a lot younger.
‘Hey Taylor. First of all i would like to apologize for posting that hurtful instagram post, at the time i thought it was funny but looking back it was distasteful and insensitive..,’ Bieber began.
‘I have to be honest though it was my caption and post that I screenshoted of scooter and Kanye that said “taylor swift what up” he didnt have anything to do with it and it wasnt even a part of the conversation in all actuality he was the person who told me not to joke like that.. Scooter has had your back since the days you graciously let me open up for you.!’
Bieber’s post from August 2016 was an image showing him Facetiming Braun and Kanye with the caption ‘Taylor swift what up’.
Swift had earlier shared this screenshot of Bieber’s August 2016 Instagram post in which he’s he’s Facetiming Braun and Kanye West as proof of Braun’s bullying tactics
Bieber went on: ‘I’m sure Scooter and i would love to talk to you and resolve any conflict, pain or or any feelings that need to be addressed. Neither scooter or i have anything negative to say about you we truly want the best for you.’
He concluded: ‘I usually don’t rebuttal things like this but when you try and deface someone i loves character thats crossing a line..’
With the record label purchase, Braun acquires the six albums Swift has released to date, as well as music by Reba McEntire, Sheryl Crow, Florida Georgia Line, Thomas Rhett, Rascal Flatts and Lady Antebellum, according to Bloomberg.
Bieber, pictured this weekend with wife Hailey Baldwin, told Swift: ‘Neither scooter or i have anything negative to say about you we truly want the best for you’
Demi Lovato, who just signed with Braun in May, also took to social media to defend the music manager whom she called ‘a good man’
Lovato made her feelings known via her Instagram Stories
Demi Lovato, who just signed with Braun in May, also took to social media to defend the music manager, whom she called ‘a good man’.
‘I have dealt with bad people in this industry and Scooter is not one of them,’ Lovato wrote on Instagram Stories.
‘Personally, I’m grateful he came into my life when he did. Please stop “dragging” people or bullying them. There’s enough hate in this world as it is,’ she said.
Swift claimed she had learned of the sale of Big Machine Label Group from the news and described Braun’s acquisition of all her back catalog as ‘my worst case scenario’
She accused Scott Borchetta, with whose label she signed when she was 15, of knowing full well how she would react to the deal, writing: ‘Any time Scott Borchetta has heard the words “Scooter Braun” escape my lips, it was when I was either crying or trying not to’
Swift claimed in her Tumblr post that she had learned of the sale of Big Machine Label Group from the news.
Swift’s rep later refuted a suggestion, published by People and TMZ, that Borchetta had notified Swift of the deal and that her father Swift, a shareholder of Big Machine Label group, had known about the transaction ‘for at least a week.’
Swift’s spokesperson told People Sunday evening: ‘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 spokesperson added: ‘Her dad did not join that call because he did not want to be required to withhold any information from his own daughter. 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.’
However, Braun’s wife Yael also took to social media Sunday and challenged Swift’s account of events.
Defending her husband, Yael claimed on Instagram that the superstar had had the chance to purchase her own masters but had ‘passed’ on the opportunity.
Yael also alleged that Taylor’s dad Scott did know about the deal and that Borchetta had notified Swift personally about it.
‘My husband is anything but a bully,’ she wrote. ‘He’s spent his life standing up for people and causes he believes in.’
Yael accused Swift of being a bully and said that her husband had been ‘so excited to work and build with you’ after acquiring her masters.
‘How embarrassing this temper tantrum is because you didn’t get your own way,’ she said, before asking Swift to ‘please control your fans. Leave our personal life and kids out of this….. Tumblr can’t fix this, a phone call can.’
Braun’s wife Yael also took to social media Sunday and challenged Swift’s account of events. Defending her husband, Yael claimed that the superstar had had the chance to purchase her own masters but had ‘passed’ on the opportunity
Yael also alleged Taylor’s dad Scott, a shareholder in Borchetta’s label, did know about the deal and that Borchetta had notified Swift personally about it. Scott and Taylor are pictured in 2014
On Tumblr earlier, Swift had described Braun’s acquisition of all her back catalog as ‘my worst case scenario.’
‘Scooter has stripped me of my life’s work, that I wasn’t given an opportunity to buy. Essentially, my musical legacy is about to lie in the hands of someone who tried to dismantle it,’ she wrote.
She drew a circle around Braun’s face in red on Bieber’s old Instagram post and said: ‘This is Scooter Braun, bullying me on social media when I was at my lowest point’, and adding that Braun’s client Kanye ‘organized a revenge porn music video which strips my body naked.’
The Bad Blood superstar explained how she felt it was just one more way in which Braunhad tried to belittle her: ‘Like when Kim Kardashian orchestrated an illegally recorded snippet of a phone call to be leaked and then Scooter got his two clients together to bully me online about it,’ she wrote on Tumblr.
She explained she always wanted to own her own music, but entered the industry at the age of 15 and couldn’t fight for herself. She signed with Big Machine Records and knew that when owner Scott Borchetta sold the label, he’d be selling her legacy.
But, she said, she never expected it to be sold to Braun’s company Ithaca Holdings LLC.
‘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,’ she wrote.
Braun and Borchetta, pictured Friday, agreed a reported $300 million deal in which Braun acquires not only Swift’s old music but also music from Reba McEntire, Sheryl Crow, Florida Georgia Line, Thomas Rhett, Rascal Flatts and Lady Antebellum
Swift poured her heart out in her Tumblr post ‘s full
In 2018 Swift signed with Republic Records, a label under the Universal Music Group.
‘Thankfully, I am now signed to a label that believes I should own anything I create. Thankfully, I left my past in Scott’s hands and not my future,’ Swift said.
‘And hopefully, young artists or kids with musical dreams will read this and learn about how to better protect themselves in a negotiation. You deserve to own the art you make,’ she added.
She ended her post saying ‘sad and grossed out’.
Her next album Lover will be out on August 23.
Last year, Swift signed with Republic Records, a label under the Universal Music Group and her first album with the new label – Lover – will be released on August 23