Music mogul Scooter Braun took to Instagram late Tuesday to snark about Taylor Swift.
Scooter shared that he had “finally” watched the US documentary Taylor Swift vs Scooter Braun: Bad Blood, which details his long-standing feud with the singer, and questions whether Taylor is “bravely standing up for artistry” or if Scooter has been “unfairly framed” in their spat.
The retired music manager also reacted to a news article about Taylor hosting a group of famous friends, including Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, at her Rhode Island home this past weekend, joking: “How was I not invited to this?!?” alongside the hashtag “#laughalittle.”
Scooter and Taylor’s dispute dates back to 2019, when his company Ithaca Holdings acquired the label Big Machine Records, giving him the rights to the Grammy winner’s first six studio records.
Taylor wrote on Tumblr at the time that she’d “pleaded” for the chance to own her music but ultimately wasn’t able to do so. She said she’d learned about Scooter having bought her music at the same time as the public.
“All I could think about was the incessant, manipulative bullying I’ve received at his hands for years,” Taylor said of Scooter, alleging that he had pushed his clients to antagonise her online.
“Now Scooter has stripped me of my life’s work, that I wasn’t given an opportunity to buy,” she said. “Essentially, my musical legacy is about to lie in the hands of someone who tried to dismantle it.”
Scooter’s then-wife pushed back on Taylor’s accusations, saying that he was “anything but a bully” and that the Fortnight singer had “passed” on the opportunity to own the masters to her albums.
Since then, Taylor has continued to call out Scooter in her public remarks and even seemed to do so in her music.
In November 2020, news broke that Scooter had sold Taylor’s masters to a private equity company called Shamrock. Taylor wrote on social media at the time that she’d tried to negotiate with Scooter to buy her music from him, but that his team wanted her to sign an “ironclad” nondisclosure agreement to not speak negatively about him in the future.
“He would never even quote my team a price,” she wrote. “These master recordings were not for sale to me.”
She also said that Shamrock had reached out to her, leading Taylor to learn that Scooter would still profit off her music following the company’s purchase. She said that although she was “hopeful” about partnering with Shamrock, Scooter’s participation was a “non-starter” for her, adding that not working with Shamrock was a “sacrifice” she had to make to keep Scooter out of her life.
In response, Shamrock said: “We fully respect and support her decision and, while we hoped to formally partner, we also knew this was a possible outcome that we considered.”
In 2021, Scooter spoke to Variety about his feud with Taylor and reflected on his earlier acquisition of her masters.
“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,” he said, later adding: “I’m firmly against anyone ever being bullied.”
