Scooter Braun Says Taylor Swift’s ‘Social Media War’ Resulted in Death Threats to His Family
Music executive Scooter Braun turned to Instagram to fire off the latest salvo in an ongoing war of words with Taylor Swift early Friday morning (Nov. 22), claiming that what he described as her "social media war" has resulted in "numerous death threats directed at my family" and calling on her to resolve their public dispute privately.
There has been antipathy between Swift and her former label, Big Machine Label Group, since she departed and signed a new deal with Republic in November of 2018. The superstar has publicly denounced BMLG head Scott Borchetta's subsequent decision to sell BMLG to Braun, who is her longtime adversary. She turned to social media on Nov. 14 to ask her fans to put pressure on Borchetta, Braun and the Carlyle Group, which helped finance Braun's acquisition of BMLG, after she said the label had denied her the right to perform a medley of her past hits when she receives the Artist of the Decade award at the 2019 American Music Awards on Nov. 24.
Everyone involved has denied Swift's claim that they blocked her from performing her older songs, and on Nov. 18, BMLG granted specific permission for her AMAs performance.
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Braun spoke out publicly for the first time on Thursday morning, saying he did not want to participate in a public back-and-forth. In his statement to Instagram, he says he came home that night to find that his wife had received a phone call threatening their children, in addition to other threats. Braun says he is "disappointed" that Swift had "remained silent" after he says she was notified about "ongoing threats" four days prior, but he says he still wants to meet with her to work things out privately.
Braun goes on to say that he was sorry to hear that his presence in the BMLG deal caused Swift so much dismay, and he claims he's tried for six months to get a meeting to work things out, to no avail.
"It almost feels as if you have no interest in ever resolving the conflict," he writes.
Braun also claims that "many" have told him it's "not about the truth, but a narrative" for Swift.
"I am hopeful that is not the case," he writes. "I'm right here, ready to speak directly and respectfully. But if you would prefer to make large public statements while refusing to work towards resolving things amicably then I just pray that nobody gets seriously hurt in the process."
Braun included what is ostensibly one of the threats he's received, which says, "Hi, why dont you just die withyour children??? I will buy a gun tmr and them shoot you allin the head."
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