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Scooter Braun writes open letter to Taylor Swift following death threats against his children

Singer’s former manager has pleaded with Swift for a resolution to their feud

Ellie Harrison
Friday 22 November 2019 13:31 GMT
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Taylor Swift performs 'ME!' with Brendon Urie at Billboard Music Awards

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Scooter Braun has written an open letter to Taylor Swift, pleading with her to resolve their conflict, after his family received “numerous death threats” in the wake of their fall-out.

Swift publicly accused her former manager of “incessant bullying” and claimed he was stopping her from performing her old hits after his company bought her back catalogue in June.

Braun had remained silent on the issue until now, claiming threats to his children had forced him to speak out.

"I came home tonight to find my wife had received a phone call threatening the safety of our children" he wrote in an open letter to Swift on his Instagram account.

Braun also posted a screenshot of a message he had received, saying: "Why don't you just die with your children? I will buy a gun [tomorrow] and then shoot you all in the head."

In the letter to Swift, he said: "I assume this was not your intention but it is important that you understand that your words carry a tremendous amount of weight and that your message can be interpreted by some in different ways…

"We are living in a time of pointless violence and, as a husband and father, I am concerned."

He called for Swift to meet with him, claiming his “attempts and calls to have an open discussion with [Swift] over the last six months have all been rejected”.

Braun added: "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.”

Swift and Braun’s feud revolves around the singer’s rights to her back catalogue with Big Machine, a label that was sold to Braun after Swift left to sign with Republic, effectively granting him ownership of her early master recordings.

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“My musical legacy is about to lie in the hands of someone who tried to dismantle it,” said Swift, who intends to re-record and re-release her first six albums, to regain control of the masters.

Earlier this month, Swift claimed that Braun was preventing her from performing a medley of Big Machine-era songs at the American Music Awards.

Big Machine denied the claim and announced that Swift could in fact perform her old music at the AMAs.

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