Justin Bieber responded to Taylor Swift on Sunday, June 30, after she criticized his manager Scooter Braun for buying her music back catalog and claiming they bullied her.
The “Sorry” singer”, 25, posted a lengthy note to Swift on Instagram in which he initially apologized for posting a photo of himself Facetiming with Braun, 38, and Kanye West amid Swift’s feud with the rapper over his “Famous” lyrics in 2016. (The “Bad Blood” singer, 29, shared Bieber’s post on her Tumblr blog on Sunday, drawing a red circle around Braun’s face and writing, “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.”)
“Hey Taylor,” Bieber captioned a throwback photo showing him with Swift. “First of all i would like to apologize for posting that hurtful instagram post, at the time i thought it was funny but looking back it was distasteful and insensitive,” he wrote, explaining that Braun “didnt have anything to do with it.”
Swift wrote on Tumblr on Sunday that Braun buying her former record label Big Machine from Scott Borchetta, in a $300 million deal that includes all of her masters from 2006 till the end of last year, was the “worst case scenario” for her and meant that “my musical legacy is about to lie in the hands of someone who tried to dismantle it.”
“Scooter has had your back since the days you graciously let me open up for you.!” Bieber responded in his post, defending his longtime manager whose other clients include Ariana Grande and Demi Lovato. “As the years have passed we haven’t crossed paths and gotten to communicate our differences, hurts or frustrations. So for you to take it to social media and get people to hate on scooter isn’t fair. 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.”
After Swift claimed in her Tumblr post that Braun got two of his artists to bully her amid the West/Kim Kardashian leaked phone call scandal, the hashtag #WeStandWithTaylor trended on Twitter, with fans slamming Braun and Halsey even posting her own message of support for the “You Need to Calm Down” singer.
“One thing i know is both scooter and i love you,” Bieber concluded. “I feel like the only way to resolve conflict is through communication. So banter back and fourth online i dont believe solves anything. I’m sure Scooter and i would love to talk to you and resolve any conflict, pain or or any feelings that need to be addressed. Neither scooter or i have anything negative to say about you we truly want the best for you. I usually don’t rebuttal things like this but when you try and deface someone i loves character thats crossing a line..”
