Big Machine’s Scott Borchetta finally shares his “truth” after Swift attacks him and Scooter Braun and industry stars line up on both sides of the feud — check out all the reactions!
UPDATED at 11:32 a.m. on 7/1/19:
Ariana Grande, who’s managed by Scooter Braun, just posted and deleted an Instagram Story showing sympathy and love for Taylor Swift.
“i would never support someone with the intentions of hurting another person,” Ari wrote. “i spoke to [Scooter] myself as soon as i heard .. i don’t mean to make this public or get involved but i’ve noticed mixed opinions where people used my name … please spread love. i’m so so sorry tay. ily. stay strong.”
She added, “deleting this in a min. this didn’t happen.”
Instagram
ORIGINAL STORY at 8:01 p.m. on 6/30/19:
To say that Taylor Swift is not thrilled about the buyout of her former label, Big Machine Label Group, by Scooter Braun may just be the understatement of the past 13 years.
That’s how long Swift has been making music under that label, encompassing her first six albums, before she shifted to Universal Music Group for her forthcoming seventh full-length effort, “Lover,” due out August 23.
Now, all of that work has been sold out from under her, and the “You Need to Calm Down” singer is anything but calm, lashing out online at Big Machine owner Scott Borchetta for basically selling her career to this point to Braun, a man Swift described as someone who has “incessantly, manipulatively” bullied her and tried to dismantle her career.
Even worse, Swift claims she learned of the loss of her masters to Braun at the same time as the rest of the world, though Borchetta denies this. In a response of his own to Swift’s post, he wrote, “Out of courtesy, I personally texted Taylor at 9:06 PM, Saturday, June 29th, to inform her prior to the story breaking.” The story broke Sunday morning.
As the story broke on Sunday and only grew after Swift’s angry response, celebrities from across the music industry and beyond joined the fray, with Halsey being the first to throw her support behind Swift, tweeting that she “deserves to own the painstaking labor of her heart.”
Katy Perry also appeared to sign a change.org petition calling for Swift to be allowed to re-release all six albums under her new label, which could conceivably result in her regaining control of her music. “I stand with Taylor,” Perry — or someone using her name — wrote alongside her response, per Hollywood Life. “Stay strong my friend.” Nearly 90,000 fans have signed the petition at time of publication.
Alessia Cara pleaded on her Instagram stories for the industry to “stop stealing from women who work hard,” while Iggy Azalea tweeted, “They really do people crazy dirty on ownership of their intellectual property in the biz.”
Azalea joined several other artists in reportedly unfollowing Braun on social media, including Miley Cyrus, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Selena Gomez, Camila Cabello, Gwen Stefani, Gwen Stefani and Adele. Even Braun’s own client, Ariana Grande, reportedly deleted her own congratulatory post to Braun after Swift’s post went live.
Others came out on Braun’s side, including Justin Bieber, who tried to have his cake and eat it, too, by apologizing to Swift for his earlier “what up” post regarding her Kim Kardashian/Kanye West feud that Swift used as fuel for her own post. “At the time i thought it was funny but looking back it was distasteful and insensitive,” Bieber said, going on to say that West and Braun had nothing to do with its content and Swift was “crossing a line” in targeting Braun.
He went on to ask, “What were you trying to accomplish by posting that blog? Seems to me like it was to get sympathy. You also knew that in posting that your fans would go and bully Scooter.” In fact, Bieber says that it was Braun “who told me not to joke like that.. Scooter has had your back since the days you graciously let me open up for you.”
