Hours after the Australian leg of Taylor Swift’s Eras tour came to a close, a photographer accused Swift’s father of punching him in the face. Ben McDonald told police that Scott Swift struck him at a Sydney wharf where Taylor and her entourage disembarked from a yacht in the early hours of Tuesday morning. “In 23 years, I haven’t been assaulted and punched in the chops, particularly by the talent’s dad,” McDonald told the Associated Press. A spokesperson for Swift did not explicitly address McDonald’s assault allegations, but suggested in a statement to People that her team had been threatened by paparazzi. “Two individuals were aggressively pushing their way towards Taylor, grabbing at her security personnel and threatening to throw a female staff member into the water,” the statement read.
Following Swift’s final Eras show in Sydney on Monday night, McDonald says he and other local paparazzi were waiting at Neutral Bay wharf to photograph Swift and her entourage as they made their way from a jetty to their cars around 2:30 a.m. “We didn’t go rushing down the jetty. We didn’t go rushing to the back of the boat,” McDonald told the AP. The photographer said he and other media “kept it very civil” as Taylor approached, hidden under her security guards’ umbrellas.
“There were about four or five security there and at one point, one of the American security started shoving his umbrella into me and my camera and then Taylor got in her car,” McDonald told the AP. “Someone else came running at me and punched me in the left side of my face. Initially, I thought it was an Australian security that was trying to be the hero of the moment in the front of the Americans, but as it turned out it was her father.” McDonald says he later realized the man who punched him was Swift’s father after reviewing photos he had taken of the event that evening and comparing them with photos of Scott online. He did not sustain injuries from the alleged altercation and did not require medical assistance. An investigation by local police is currently underway.
Over the last several months, Scott Swift has become something of a mainstay at his daughter’s shows, hanging out in the VIP tent and handing out guitar picks to the crowds of Swifties. Swift left Australia via private jet on Tuesday. She is scheduled to perform six shows in Singapore starting this weekend.
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