Manager Scooter Braun has spent the last decade creating a multimedia empire through SchoolBoy
Records. His talent roster boasts the likes of Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, and Kanye
West, but for every success story there are also tales of drama. This is the shady side
of Scooter Braun.
In June 2019, Scooter Braun announced that he'd purchased Taylor Swift's former record
label, Big Machine, and acquired the rights to her old music catalog - leading the songstress
to lash out in a Tumblr post. Accusing Braun of, quote, "incessant, manipulative bullying"
through his associations with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian - with whom she's famously
feuded - Swift slammed Braun for previously endorsing then-client West's "Famous" music
video, which featured a rather revealing likeness of her. Prior to this, Kardashian had "exposed"
Swift for allegedly lying about giving West permission to rap about her in the controversial
song, which Swift denied.
Swift wrote:
"Never in my worst nightmares did I imagine the buyer would be Scooter. Any time [Big
Machine founder] 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."
While Swift alleged that the $300 million deal went through without her knowledge, Borchetta
vehemently denied this claim. Meanwhile, sources cited by The Blast claimed that Swift allegedly
"ghosted" Braun when he reportedly tried reaching out to her privately on the matter.
Scooter Braun has been slow to publicly or directly respond to Taylor Swift's allegations.
However, his wife, Yael Cohen Braun didn't hesitate to comment. Yael wrote in part on
Instagram:
"Don't blame him because Kim caught you in a lie, it's embarrassing, I know - but adults
own up to their mistakes. We learn and grow from them, we don't divert blame and blur
the lines of reality to suit our needs."
In addition to slamming Swift for her alleged dishonesty, she claimed that her husband was
a longtime Swift supporter, had sent an olive branch to her more than once, and had advised
his clients to, quote, "be kind or be quiet" regarding the country crossover star.
Scooter Braun may have an issue with boundaries, considering the fact that he once opened up
about Ariana Grande's personal life to the press. Fans may recall that the "Thank U,
Next" hitmaker temporarily parted ways with Braun in early 2016. While the two went on
to patch up their business relationship, Braun ultimately blamed their brief manager-client
split on the singer's dating life.
At Fast Company's Innovation Festival in October 2018, Braun spoke about the situation with
Grande:
"And what I chose with Ariana, is I could have said a lot of stuff, and in fact my team
wanted me to, because they were pissed. But I said, 'We're not gonna say a word, and this
is gonna come back around.'"
But Braun didn't leave it at that.
"S----- boyfriends leave, she started to see, you know, the light on some stuff."
Noting that they then had a, quote, "very honest conversation" about his employment,
he claimed that getting fired had made him a better manager.
In May 2017, a horrific terrorist attack took place at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester,
England, claiming the lives of 22 people and leaving hundreds more injured. While Grande
was understandably traumatized after the incident, Scooter Braun later bragged about pushing
her to get back onstage - albeit for a great cause.
While speaking on The Bill Simmons Podcast in February 2018, Braun claimed that he initially
wanted to cancel Grande's Dangerous Woman tour following the bombing, but Grande urged
him to keep it going. However, the songstress herself revealed just months later that she
didn't think she'd ever perform again. In an interview with Time, she recalled telling
Braun,
"I can never sing these songs again. I can't put on these outfits. Don't put me in this
position."
Of course, Grande came around to headline the One Love Manchester benefit concert in
June 2017, which raised nearly $13 million for survivors and victims of the tragedy.
The Wanted had a smash hit with "Glad You Came" in 2011, but couldn't sustain their
success. It wasn't long before the British-Irish boy band became almost as well known for their
hellish behavior as for their heavenly harmonies. Following their 2014 split, former member
Siva alleged to the Mirror that their bad reputation was due in part to their reality
show, The Wanted Life, and the almost incessant parties Braun reportedly encouraged them to
attend. The former group also reportedly feuded with more successful pop acts, like One Direction
and Christina Aguilera, which couldn't have helped their public image.
While Nathan Sykes and Max George were the only members of the group to keep Braun as
a manager, the man himself appeared to deflect responsibility for all of his acts' alleged
behavior. While discussing Grande's infamous donut incident and Justin Bieber's egg-throwing
mayhem with The New York Times in 2015, Braun said:
"We're getting a little ridiculous when it comes to doughnuts and eggs...Why are we discussing
that when we have real significant issues in the world?"
Carly Rae Jepsen is a songwriter who's beloved by critics. After peaking at No. 1 in 2012,
"Call Me Maybe" lingered on the Billboard charts for a whopping 50 weeks. But when she
surprisingly wasn't able to maintain this level of success, Scooter Braun jumped to
his own defense.
While he accepted responsibility for her lack of continued success to a degree, he also
hinted that Jepsen maybe needed more motivation - or a different physical appearance - to
soar. He told The New York Times:
"I didn't get the success I wanted. Maybe I didn't push hard enough when I thought I
was. Maybe I didn't get her the right TV look at the right time. Maybe I picked the wrong
single."
Jepsen's follow-up record, 2015's E•MO•TION, debuted at No. 14 and sold only about 16,000
copies in the first week, despite strong reviews. When The New Yorker insinuated that Braun
was, quote, "a businessman and not a music coach," perhaps they weren't kidding.
While Justin Bieber is said to have discovered a then-13-year-old Madison Beer on YouTube
in 2012, she suspects it was actually someone else who was behind that tweet the Biebs famously
sent out. The tweet said simply:
"wow. 13 years old! she can sing. great job. #futurestar”
According to Beer's own account, that someone was most likely Scooter Braun, who allegedly
discarded her almost as quickly. Beer told the Evening Standard six years later:
"Justin definitely didn't discover me himself. I'm pretty sure someone showed him the video
and then he tweeted it. I doubt he was just scrolling on YouTube. But I wasn't signed
[to Braun's label] before the tweets went up."
For her part, Beer wasn't a fan of the art she put out when she first got signed and
told the outlet that she felt "trapped for a long time" in her deal. As of 2019, Beer's
an independent artist, which she told Build LDN she prefers, claiming that Braun and company
all dropped her suddenly.
"And then out of nowhere, it was all gone. No more Scooter, no more Justin, no more labels.
Not even my lawyer was the same. Everyone left me, everyone gave up."
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