Justin Bieber-Taylor Swift drama: What exactly is going on and why are celebs picking sides?
Forget Taylor Swift-Kim Kardashian feud and even the Taylor Swift-Katy Perry feud, because the only feud that matters right now is the one between Swift and Justin Bieber. Sunday night has been pretty confusing for fans of both singers, with both posting long messages about each other, and other celebrities chiming in with their own messages of support - but who is in the right and who is in the wrong, most of us have no clue.
So here we have broken down the back and forth, trying to make sense of the issue.
It all started with Swift calling out record executive and Big Machine Label Group founder Scott Brochetta in a long Tumblr post, where she also claimed that even though she has consistently "pleaded for a chance to own my work," he kept denying it to her, and instead gave her hogwash deals, signing which would have meant she was "selling me and my future." In the post, she also namedropped others that wronged her, including Bieber, Kanye West, and Kim Kardashian, but her primary target is celebrity manager Scooter Braun.
Of Braun, she claims that he has been her bully for a long time and that she can barely count the number of times that he has allegedly manipulated her. However, the most recent one took the cake, because despite knowing how much she wanted to own her own music, he bought her masters, and did not have the decency to discuss it with her.
"I learned about Scooter Braun’s purchase of my masters as it was announced to the world. All I could think about was the incessant, manipulative bullying I’ve received at his hands for years," she wrote. "Like when Kim Kardashian orchestrated an illegally recorded snippet of a phone call to be leaked and then Scooter got his two clients together to bully me online about it."
She referred to the photo above - which was shared by Bieber - and highlighted the fact that Scooter has bullied her in her lowest moments. She wrote, "Scooter has stripped me of my life’s work, that I wasn’t given an opportunity to buy. Essentially, my musical legacy is about to lie in the hands of someone who tried to dismantle it," adding that it was her "worst case scenario."
A 'sad and grossed out" Swift also said that Borchetta, who has known how Swift would feel about the whole situation all along, and Braun knew exactly what they were doing - "Controlling a woman who didn’t want to be associated with them. In perpetuity."
After Swift logged off, Bieber took the baton and put out a lengthy post of his own on Instagram. People are confused by the nature of the post - which seems too aggressive for an apology and more or less puts a lot of blame on Swift. He started off by apologizing for posting THAT "Instagram post," claiming that he thought it was funny at the time and that it was his own choice to post it, and not Braun's demand of request.
"Scooter has had your back since the days you graciously let me open up for you.!" he said before landing on a more offensive stance, wherein he claimed, "What were you trying to accomplish by posting that blog? seems to me like it was to get sympathy u also knew that in posting that your fans would go and bully scooter." He then goes on to claim that both Braun and he love her and that they need to get together to resolve the issues between them.
All hell broke loose at this point, with various other jumping forward to Braun's rescue, and appreciating Bieber for his "apology," while another camp criticized him for not truly understanding the issue and asking him to take a step back and reevaluate. Meanwhile, Braun and Bieber's better halves have been quick to jump to their rescue. While Hailey Bieber stuck to a simple "Gentleman" in response to Bieber's "apology," Braun's wife Yael Cohen Braun went the way of Bieber and Swift to post a lengthy takedown.
"...You were given the opportunity to own your own masters, you passed. Interesting that the man you're so "grossed out" by believed in you more than you believe in yourself." Cohen Braun also contended that Swift is lying about the sale being done behind her back. "Your dad is a shareholder and was notified, and [Big Machine Records CEO, Scott] Borchetta personally told you before this came out. So no, you didn’t find out with the world," she wrote. She concluded by saying: "And girl, who are you to talk about bullying? The world has watched you collect and drop friends like wilted flowers. My husband is anything but a bully, he's spent his life standing up for people and causes he believes in..."
The people in Swift's corner are her BFF Todrick Hall and Swift squad cardholder Cara Delevingne, and of course the Swifties, who rewrote Borchetta's Wikipedia page to read that he is an American record executive and entrepreneur best known for founding Big Machine Label Group who is "best known for selling Taylor Swift's music to a nobody." Of course, it has since been rectified.
Delevingne posted a comment calling Hailey out for calling Bieber a "gentleman," saying she should spend "less time sticking up for men and more time trying to understand women and respecting their valid reactions." Hall, meanwhile, shared his own horrific experiences working with Braun, who he alleges is a homophobe.
"I would normally not say anything because I’m sure scooter will threaten me like he has before to keep me quiet, but guess what Scooter, nothing you can do to me would be worst than the 6 years of my life I can’t get back from when & I was ignored as your 'artist,'" read one of his tweets.
Meanwhile, a slew of celebrities have unfollowed Braun, explicitly stating that they support Swift.