Scooter Braun recently revisited his supposed feud with superstar Taylor Swift, revealing that he never knew her and had only met her three times. For those uninformed, the rift between Swift and Braun began in 2019, after the pop star revealed that Braun owned the masters of her first six albums after he acquired her former record label, Big Machine Label Group, for $300 million.
Scooter Braun sold the catalogue to Shamrock Capital in 2020, and Swift began re-recording and re-releasing her catalogue under the title “Taylor’s Version.” In May 2025, Swift announced that she had finally purchased the masters of her albums, which included Taylor Swift, Fearless, Red, Speak Now, 1989, and Reputation.
On May 28, 2026, Scooter Braun, the former CEO of HYBE America, appeared on Suzy Weiss’ Second Thought podcast, where he briefly spoke about Taylor Swift and the controversy surrounding the purchase of her masters. Braun said that he “went from being like, loved and appreciated for over a decade to literally a villain the next night” after the news came out. He further clarified that he did not know the Karma singer, adding that he had met her three times.
Braun also said that one time they met was at a private party on her invitation, where they both said they had the “utmost respect” for each other. He further said that he had been “excited at the opportunity to work with her” when he acquired Big Machine, continuing that he would “never truly understand that situation.”
“I don’t know Taylor Swift. I think I’ve met her in my life three times. I have never had a substantial conversation with her in my life. I one time got invited to a private party by her. She told me she had the utmost respect for me. I told her I had the most respect for her. You don’t spend $300 million buying a label that she’s on unless you’re excited at the opportunity to work with her. I will never truly understand that situation. To this day, I wish her nothing but the best,” he said.
Scooter Braun also reflected on how the controversy blew up into a big misconception, with people thinking that they had a history with each other and that the acquisition left them feuding, adding:
“I learned a tremendous amount from it. I chose to grow from it. I’m grateful for it at this point in my life. But I think there’s this big misconception that, like, we knew each other and we had this feud and I managed her for years. And people are usually shocked to find out that I legitimately don’t know her and didn’t have many interactions with her and never really knew her.”
Scooter Braun also said that while the situation was still confusing to him, it made him realize that more artists wanted to own their masters, adding, “I think you’re seeing artists more and more do that, and I think that’s great.”
Taylor Swift accused Scooter Braun of “bullying” her in a 2019 Tumblr post about her masters’ sale
In June 2019, Taylor Swift published a lengthy post on Tumblr that detailed Scooter Braun’s acquisition of Big Machine along with the masters of her first six albums, saying that she was ”grossed out” by the thought of Braun owning her music.
The Shake It Off singer further wrote that Braun “stripped” her of her life’s work and that she wasn’t given the opportunity to buy her masters, adding, “Essentially, my musical legacy is about to lie in the hands of someone who tried to dismantle it.”
Additionally, she called the acquisition the “worst case scenario,” adding that all she could “think about was the incessant, manipulative bullying I’ve received at his [Braun’s] hands for years.” She further alleged that Braun bullied her using his clients, Kanye West and Justin Bieber, writing:
“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. (See photo)… This is Scooter Braun, bullying me on social media when I was at my lowest point. He’s about to own all the music I’ve ever made.”
She continued:
“When I left my masters in Scott’s [Borchetta] hands, I made peace with the fact that eventually he would sell them. Never in my worst nightmares did I imagine the buyer would be Scooter. Any time Scott Borchetta [former Big Machine owner] 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.”
Taylor Swift has since released “Taylor’s Version” of Fearless, Red, Speak Now, and 1989, before revealing in May 2015 that she had finally acquired all her masters from Shamrock Capital, an investment company that purchased her catalogue from Scooter Braun in 2020. Braun revealed that he was “happy for her” in a statement to Page Six at the time.
Taylor Swift has yet to respond to Scooter Braun’s recent comments about her as of this article.
Edited by Juhi Marzia