Halsey Defends Taylor Swift Following Message Detailing ‘Manipulation’ of Scooter Braun

Halsey is standing in Taylor Swift‘s corner amid a nasty feud with Scooter Braun. On Sunday, the “Without Me” singer took to social media to share a lengthy message detailing her own bad experience with the celebrity manager.

In her post, Halsey said Swift was “a huge reason” she’s always been adamant about writing her own songs. She said that writers like herself and Swift “deserve to own” their art, and reap the benefits of their labor. Halsey went on to say the situation made her sick seeing a woman as successful as Swift, 29, be made to feel “powerless.”

“Taylor Swift is a huge reason why I always insisted to write my own music. I believed if she did it (in a way that made my teeth ache like cold water and my heart swell and my eyes leak) than I should too,” Halsey wrote. “Cause that’s how to make someone feel. To drag it from the pits of your heart. To offer it on a platter and say ‘take some but take kindly.’ She deserves to own the painstaking labor of her heart.”

Halsey continued: “She has surpassed all expectations of what any artist is even capable of. She catapulted her stardom into the Milky Way. And it turns my guts that no matter how much success a woman has in this life, you are still susceptible to someone coming along and making you feel powerless out of spite.”

The musician said Swift’s situation with Braun, 38, “speaks volumes” about the work that must be done in the music industry. She said writers deserve to be treated better, and be better represented.

“It speaks volumes to how far we have to come in the music industry. The way writers are treated. How as an entertainer you are respected but as a writer you’re walked all over. Even when you are both in a single body,” Halsey wrote.

“I am standing with her,” she concluded.

The post comes after Swift took to Tumblr on Sunday to reveal her disappointment about her music catalog with former record label, Big Machine, being sold to a Braun-owned company. Swift wrote in her post that she felt stabbed in the back. The “You Need to Calm Down” singer even went as far as to accuse Braun of “bullying” while making the deal.

“For years I asked, pleaded for a chance to own my work,” she wrote. “Instead I was given an opportunity to sign back up to Big Machine Records and ‘earn’ one album back at a time, one for every new one I turned in. I walked away because I knew once I signed that contract, Scott Borchetta would sell the label, thereby selling me and my future. I had to make the excruciating choice to leave behind my past. Music I wrote on my bedroom floor and videos I dreamed up and paid for from the money I earned playing in bars, then clubs, then arenas, then stadiums.”

Swift wrote in her post that she wasn’t aware of the deal until it was announced online. “All I could think about was the incessant, manipulative bullying I’ve received at his hands for years,” she shared.

Billboard reported that Braun’s Ithaca Holdings purchased Scot Borchetta’s Big Machine for over $300 million. The deal was supported by the Carlyle Group. The deal includes the Big Machine Music publishing arm. Borchetta was made a minority stakeholder and board member at Ithaca.

Swift switched labels in 2017, moving to Universal Music Group. Big Machine works with acts like Florida Georgia Line, Thomas Rhett, Reba McEntire and more. Braun represents Justin Bieber, Kanye West and Demi Lovato.

Braun’s wife Yael Cohen came to his defense on Instagram. She told Swift to “get the facts straight” before speaking publicly about such a situation and hurling accusations.

“Let’s start with [Swift], whoa. Then let’s get the facts straight,” Cohen wrote. “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. Your dad is a shareholder and was notified and [Big Machine founder Scott Borchetta] personally told you before this came out. So no, you didn’t find out with the world.”

She went on, “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.”

Cohen accused Swift of “model bullying” herself, telling her not to blame Braun for Kim Kardashian sharing a phone conversation recorded illegally. She maintained that Braun “stood up” for Swift in the past and even “challenged his clients to be kind or be quiet.”

Borchetta addressed Swift’s allegations in a lengthy post on Big Machine’s website. He, too, accused Swift of lying about not knowing the deal was being made, again reminding her that her father is a shareholder in the label.

“We first alerted all the shareholders on Thursday, June 20th for an official shareholder’s call schedule for Tuesday, June 25th,” Borchetta wrote. “On the 6/25 call the shareholders were made aware of the pending deal with Ithaca Holdings and had 3 days to go over all of the details of the proposed transaction.”

Borchetta added, “Out of courtesy, I personally texted Taylor at 9:06pm, Saturday, June 29th to inform her prior to the story breaking on the morning of Sunday, June 30th so she could hear it directly from me.”