What’s the Snark on Scooter Braun?

25:30Yes, Canadian. Humble beginnings, a very poor family, teen mom. And he was discovered by chance by Scooter Braun on the internet. Yeah, because he has this like raw talent, you know? Yeah, but thinking back, I'm like, God, that was weird. Yeah, it's so weird. After JB's wild success, of course, Scooter signs other people like Kanye, Demi, Jay Balvin, Carly Rae Jepsen, Tori Kelly, Dan and Shay, Martin Garrix, Black Eyed Peas, David Guetta, Lil Dicky. And Scooter's kind of investor eye also extended to the tech industry where he has invested heavily. Again, it kind of reminds me a bit of Ashton Kutcher, how he was like at the front end of all these tech companies before they became the behemoths that they are today.

26:09Scooter was one of the earliest investors in startups like Uber, Spotify, Waze, Pinterest, Dropbox, Splice, and Lyft. Wow. So he basically has an eye for something that's going to make him a lot of money. He's like, this is someone who has not reached their full potential yet, but has a lot of potential and could potentially make me a lot of money. Yeah, that is a gift. Whether it's with talent. Yeah, it's a gift, whether it's with talent or businesses. Right. If someone came to me and was like, hey, Chrissy, I have this crazy idea for a company. I wouldn't be able to determine whether or not that like is a huge return on investment.

26:42Like I have no idea what that takes or what questions to ask. But Scooter at a very young age, early 20s, new. So you have to give it to him. He's fucking smart as hell. People who call themselves angel investors. Yeah. What even is an angel investor? Let's be honest. Does an angel investor want to invest in Snarkbait Studios LLC? Let us know. We're all ears. Yeah. In 2010, Ithaca Holdings, which again was Scooter's holding company, raised 120 million in venture capital funds. And which obviously is incredible. In 2019, Ithaca acquires Big Machine Label, which includes Taylor Swift's Masters, which is when all the Taylor Swift v.

27:21Scooter Bronze scandal happens. In 2020, Ithaca sells Taylor Swift's master catalog to Shan Rock Holdings, who are reported$405 million. In 2021, HYBE, which is a South Korean multinational entertainment company established in 2005, acquires Ithaca Holdings in a$1.05 billion deal. Wow. Scooter Braun becomes CEO of HYBE America and becomes a HYBE board member as well. And I'm honestly so fascinated behind these transactions that happen behind the scenes with these big media companies, conglomerate, huge industries. In 2023, under bronze leadership, Hybe America buys Quality Control Music, which is actually an independent Atlanta-based entertainment company that primarily signs hip-hop artists.

28:08And artists that you may know that were signed under Quality Control are artists like Lil Baby, Lil Yachty, City Girls, and Migos. And the deal with Quality Control and Hive was valued at$320 million between stock and cash and was led by Scooter Braun, whose relationship, which I found to be very interesting, he had a very, very deep relationship with the founders of Quality Control, CEO Pierre P. Thomas and COO Kevin Lee. And their relationship and their friendship goes all the way back to the early 2000s when Scooter was living in Atlanta. and Scooter when he talks about the deal between QC and Hybe he said QC is one of the most significant independent labels in the world working with incredible artists who are and remain to be the voices of culture I will never forget riding around Atlanta over 20 years ago with coach coach is C Pierre P Thompson discussing our dreams dreams and ambitions and how we said if they let us in the game we are never going to give it back now all these years later we are joining forces to make these dreams a reality.

29:07So he literally has fostered relationships over two decades and later turned out that he was able to turn those relationships into$320 million. Like for someone to actually retain friendships throughout decades in the industry, even when Scooter Braun was like, founded Justin Bieber, signed with Ariana Grande, he still maintained relationships with small independent labels based out of Atlanta and turned it into a$320 million deal. It really is all about who you know and the relationships that you're able to foster over time. It's incredible. It's worth noting that the key architects of this Hybe America and quality control deal include Scooter Braun, Pierre P.

29:44Thompson, who's black, Thomas, who's also black, and Hybe chairman, I hope I'm not botching this. It's a Korean name, Bang Si-hak. And they're all minorities whose U.S. operations employ multiple female executives and top roles and boasting a 70 % non-male staff, which we love. I'm looking at this picture of the Hybe and Quality Control folks, and it's like an Asian guy, two black guys, and a Jewish guy. We love to see it. Diverse. Yeah. We literally love to see it. He puts his money where his mouth is when it comes to diversity and inclusion. Honestly, hate on Scooter Braun for a lot of things, but I love him for this.

30:21No, me too. I was like, okay, this is king energy. We love that. Yeah. You know how many tech companies I've worked at that when it's like Pride Month, they'll raise the Pride flag. And the last day of the month at 11.59 p.m., they're drawing it down. Like, it's so performative. And it's really refreshing to see a company and an entertainment company platform minorities. And it's a C-suite of all white men, usually. Always. Always. In a board of white men. Yeah. It was around this time in 2023 when Hybe and Quality Control merged that Scooter kind of stopped becoming as ingratiated. into his client's actual career.

30:56So notably Ariana Grande, Demi Lovato, Idina Menzel, among many others, parted ways with Scooter around this time when they realized, hey, you're kind of taking on a larger corporate role. You don't really manage us as clients anymore. We kind of want out. And Demi at this point, I feel like when she was being managed under Scooter Braun, she was kind of in her flop era. And I was always curious as to why, but it's probably because Scooter was becoming a corporate businessman and he wasn't like on the ground helping his clients. I think that kind of makes sense. It's not great, but it kind of makes sense why his clients kind of flopped during this time.

31:30Yeah. Let's talk about the Justin Bieber saga. In 2005, Scooter had just founded his company and he had the goal of signing three types of artists, a white rapper, a girl group, and a kid who could do it like Michael Jackson. And I feel like Justin Bieber was kind of the latter. In 2008, we already talked about Scooter. Wait, did he He found it in 2007. Yes. And as we talked about, he found Justin or stumbled across Justin's videos on YouTube. And what was he searching for? That's what I want to know. A couple questions about that. I want to see what his search history was. Let's look at his drive.

32:08What was going on there? It's really weird. And I remember when there were other artists after Justin that people try to make into the next Justin Bieber. Cody Simpsons comes to mind. Who was that other guy with the brown hair? Austin? Not Austin Butler. Austin. I know who you're talking about, but it's escaping me. Yeah. He was, I mean, because he became nothing. But everyone tried to be the next. He became nothing. Sorry. Discovered on. So he was discovered on YouTube. Was it? No. He was like this brunette guy who literally did look like a T-Mu version of Justin Bieber. I'm sorry. Oh, my God.

32:42I know who exactly you're talking about, but I can't remember. but also what about how like Madison Beer didn't try to pretend that Madison Beer was like discovered on YouTube or Justin Bieber like posted a picture of her tying back to Justin Bieber but really she was like kind of an industry plant but they're trying to make that they keep trying to make that happen that story because it's such an amazing story he just had so much raw talent and was just small town kid posting on YouTube and now look at him. Yeah, it felt like his growth was so organic. I remember actually the marketing. Thank you.

33:19Thank you. That's what it is. Thank you. Thank you, Jordan. I remember the early tactics of marketing that they would use to push Justin's Bieber's likeness and name out there. I remember Justin was really big on Twitter. Before Twitter, celebrities were really connecting with fans on Twitter. I remember Justin Bieber would follow his fans. At one point he followed me and I remember thinking, oh my God, Justin Bieber follows me on Twitter, which is like so stupid. John Cena follows me on Twitter and he follows, I think 500 ,000 people on Twitter. Yeah. It's like, oh my God, I've made it. But it's like, no, if you had a full marketing team, Scooter Braun knew exactly what he was doing, but you're so right about all these other kind of niche celebs, like a Madison Beter, Carly Rae Jepsen is another one.

34:02They were all signed under Scooter Braun. And I remember they were kind of using Justin Bieber to help platform these other new talent. It's such an interesting marketing tactic. But in any case, Patty, Justin Bieber's mom, was initially skeptical of Braun being Jewish. She said, you could send me a Christian man, a Christian label. And she pleaded to God at the time. But she later told the New York Times she agreed to work with Scooter, have Justin work with Scooter after praying about it with church leaders, which, okay, big question mark. Scooter put Justin on a flight to Atlanta for meetings and recording demos, and it was Justin's first flight ever.

34:41And in the parking lot, Justin Bieber runs into Usher, who of course was Scooter's good friend, who he just founded RBMG Records with. And Usher initially thinks that Justin is Scooter's cousin, and he asks Scooter about him. And Scooter sends Usher clips of Justin Bieber, and Usher is just enthralled. He's like, we need to sign this guy to our label. And Scooter tells Usher that Justin already has a meeting with the other Justin, Justin Timberlake. And they kind of battle it out for Justin, which we all know to this day at 2025. And in a 2024 interview, Usher said that he told Scooter that with Justin Timberlake, Bieber would forever be known as Justin and Justin, potentially being overshadowed by Justin Timberlake's preexisting like big name.

35:23Whereas with Usher, he's like, it's only one Justin in the picture. I mean, he's not wrong. Yeah, I mean, and I feel like when Justin Bieber signed with Usher, he was kind of putting him into like more of an R &B route, like the true Atlanta hip-hop synths. I don't know. I just feel like he pushed him into a different demographic than he would have if he were to sign with Timberlake. And this is just kind of a side, but knowing what we know now about Diddy's relationship with Usher, I feel like Justin really never stood a chance being under Usher's wing, unfortunately. And if you're unfamiliar, it is highly speculated that Usher was groomed by Diddy.

35:59And when Usher was only 13 years old, Diddy became Usher's legal guardian. Diddy produced Usher's self-titled 1994 debut album. And Usher has often noted that during his time under Diddy's wing, he was exposed to a lot at a young age. He said in 2004, during the era of confessions, These are my confessions. That's such a good album, by the way. So good. Usher said in a Rolling Stone interview that Diddy introduced him to a totally different set of shit, sex specifically. Usher noted that sex is so hot in the industry and remembered that in Diddy's home there was always girls around. You'd open a door and see somebody doing it or several people in a room having an orgy.

36:40You never knew what was going to happen. Oh, God. Very dark. So Justin Bieber is being kind of introduced to this world. He's so young. He's so out of his element. is a small town kid from Canada. Right, from Stratford, Ontario, I think, is the little province. So in July 2008, Bieber signs to RBMG, and Usher introduces Justin to L.A. Reid, who signed Usher when Usher was just 14 years old. L.A. Reid then signs Justin to Island Def Jam Music Group in a 360 deal covering records, tours, merch, with a 50-50 profit split. And this deal includes moving expenses to Atlanta, where Justin can record along with a private tutor, And Scooter is very hands-on and deals with Justin's day-to-day career and personal life.

37:27And in 2009, One Time is released and is a hit. Usher, if you recall, is in the music video, which undoubtedly helped Justin's PR. Usher was huge at this point. I remember every concert Usher was in, there would be rain falling down with his shirt off. Do you remember that? Gotta let it burn. So good. Yeah, he was hot. He still is. He still is. No, he literally aged just like Ramona. Yeah, literally. In July of 2009, Justin admits that he has a crush on Selena Gomez. But if you remember, Selena was dating Nick Jonas at the time, a la the Disney Channel. So Scooter calls Selena's mom and manager to introduce Justin and Selena.

38:10So thanks to Scooter, that's how Jelena was kind of born. And again - This was a business move for him. He was like, we can create a power couple. I was thinking about that, Sophie. the industry is so weird you're a man in his late 20s trying to set up two teenagers so fucked in 2009 scooter brawn and usher arranged for justin to do a meet and greet with diddy and this is the clip i know you guys are all aware of at this point when justin was around 15 years old diddy's acting kind of as a mentor calling bieber his little brother and there's this 2009 youtube video that surfaced called justin bieber's 48 hours with diddy and it shows diddy promising Justin a Lamborghini, making comments about undisclosed activities that he really can't talk about.

38:52It was a 15 year old's dream. Looking back, it's obviously incredibly nefarious knowing what we know now about Diddy and what he likely exposed Justin to at the age of 15. But on a Jimmy Kimmel interview in 2011, Diddy joked that Bieber knew not to discuss their activities on TV. And if you watch this clip, you can tell that Diddy is pissed that Justin is even talking about their hangouts on television. And he goes, he knows better than to talk about what he's doing with Big Brother Puff on national television after Justin says, oh yeah, did he gift me a Lamborghini? What is a man in his 30s or 40s doing gifting a 15-year-old a Lamborghini?

39:26Like, so, it's grooming. It's literally grooming. He didn't even have his license yet, for the record. He's only 15. Right, and it's so insidious knowing what we know now, but also the fact that Scooter and Usher were putting Justin in these scenarios. Yeah. That Justin definitely did not need to be in at the time. scooter continues to kind of be this figure for justin being so close to him so in 2009 my world drops as part of the marketing tactic scooter has justin sign autographs and perform at local malls like he did in la when i attended and there was a specific event at the roosevelt field mall in long island where justin was supposed to show up perform and promote the album 3 000 fans show up and the police asked james ropa who's the svp of sales at island deaf jam to tweet that the event is canceled.

40:16It was well over capacity. And only Justin Bieber and Scooter knew the password to Justin's Twitter. And they reached out to Scooter and they're like, dude, you need to cancel this meeting. This is insane. People are going to get injured. And Scooter's like, sorry, I'm in meetings, can't do it. And finally, Scooter ends up tweeting that the event is canceled and the crowd leaves within 15 minutes. However, because the crowd was so over capacity, five young fans were injured and James Ropo was held overnight on multiple misdemeanor charges because of this. A day later, where Scooter turns himself into Nassau County on two misdemeanor charges for reckless endangerment and obstruction of governmental administration from this mall incident.

40:54He pleads not guilty, and I remember this like it was yesterday. Justin defends Scooter wears a free scooter shirt. Later on, Island Def Jam pleads guilty to a lesser charge in the mall incident through a deal that Scooter ended up brokering with prosecutors. The label was required to pay$8 ,000, but Scooter Braun's record is cleared. That just shows you like the insanity that was Justin Bieber. 3 ,000 kids showed up to a mall and five got injured. You were probably like there. No, I absolutely was. Like I... Christy was an original believer. I really was. We'll post a photo to our carousel at Snarkbait Pod of the picture that I have with Justin.

41:30I have two. Oh my God. Okay, let's talk about 2013 to 2014, which is Justin Bieber's dark ages and kind of like how is Scooter Braun entangled in all of this. So if you guys remember, Justin was caught down a very dark path. He was caught smoking weed. He was hanging out with some shady friends. In August 2013, a woman accuses Little Twists of Battery for an alleged incident that occurred at Justin Bieber's home. And around that time, Scooter was like, dude, Justin, you got to stop hanging out with Little Twists after this battery claim. And Scooter and Justin were having a big blowout fight because, of course, Justin Bieber at that age, he's young.

42:08And he's like, you can't tell me to not hang out with certain people. I like, I love this guy. Fuck you. Lil' Twiss is angered at Scooter for telling Justin who to hang out with and who to not. He publicly tweets, fuck you, Scooter, and everything you stand for. Fake stories. It was all planned out. A setup. Every story. January of 2014, Justin is arrested for driving under the influence in Miami Beach after police catch him racing his Lamborghini at around 4 a.m. and when they pulled him over, they charged him with resisting arrest, driving with an expired license. He had a beer. He was smoking marijuana.

42:41The list goes on. Scooter Braun had to publicly tweet, I love you and I will act in the manner of someone who truly cares. So like Justin Bieber is basically going on, it's like this crazy bad PR like stint where Justin is making bad decision after bad decision. There were mugshot after mugshot and Scooter and Usher were trying to lure Justin back in. almost like this like save Justin summit right in January of 2014 Scooter asks fans to be kind and hope for the best in people not to assume the worst Justin was obviously going through it he was not doing well and all Scooter and Usher could do was just help get him back on track and that they did.

43:25In 2015, March of 2015, Comedy Central put on a roast of Justin Bieber, which I think was a fantastic idea. It was so funny. It was so funny. That was the best thing I think Scooter did for Justin's career at that time, because to take someone who has had public scrutiny month after month, who's been arrested, who was peeing in like kitchen buckets, like restaurant buckets, was like peeing on his neighbor's lawn, throwing eggs at his neighbors. People were sick of Justin and they were like, dude, you're such a little punk. And for Justin to like kind of take a joke and be able to take it, like that was such a good idea.

44:01In December of 2015, Scooter reflected on Justin's comeback to the New York Times, revealing that he worried that the singer could have died if he toured behind his 2013 Mixtape Journals album. Scooter said it was far worse than people realize. He also says he's been trying to help Bieber for a year and a half. It wasn't until something happened that it clicked for him. He made the conscious decision as a young man that I need to make a change in my own life. And this is also kind of a funny anecdote. In July of 2016, TMZ reported that Scooter threatened to quit as Justin's manager if the star performed a gig associated with the RNC, Republican National Convention.

44:38Justin had reportedly been offered $5 million for the 45-minute performance, which organizers said it was not political nor associated with the presidential nominee, Donald Trump, despite being funded by Republican donors. and Bieber's all-black bands that they would not perform if they were asked to do so. And Scooter reportedly gave Justin Bieber the final call on the performance despite his ultimatum and Justin ultimately declined the offer to perform at the RNC. In July of 2017, Justin canceled the final 14 dates of his Purpose tour. Justin told TMZ, everything's fine. I just want to relax and ride some bikes, which I thought was really funny because remember in November of 2017 when him and Selena were car riding bikes in New York City?

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48:13So when your mind won't switch off, you've got something that can help. Erasing thoughts and restless nights won't stand a chance. Find Oli's sleep solutions for the whole family at Oli.com. That's O-L-L-Y dot com. Let's talk about Scooter kind of trending into the dark ages, kind of like his demise. It really started in 2019, obviously, when Taylor Swift in the Big Machine record drama happens. Scott Borchetta, who was Taylor Swift's, like, confidant, business manager almost, was one of the executives at Big Machine. He sold her master's to Scooter Braun. So that was when, like, I think everything blew up in June of 2019.

48:57More on that to come. But in May of 2020, Stuck With You debuts at number one on the Hot 100, which is Scooter Braun's first number one as a writer. So I guess he helped write this record with Ariana and Justin. And rapper, I think it's Tech N9ne, Tekashi69, accuses Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande of cheating. And he refers to 60 ,000 singles bought in an hour on six different credit cards. And obviously the internet looked at Scooter and was like, you definitely did that. And it makes me wonder, there's so many allegations about Call Her Daddy, like using bot farms to help her streaming. Same with like the New York Times dagger.

49:34What do you think of this allegation that Scooter Braun was inflating the single downloads for Stuck On You, Stuck With You? I mean, is this the same album where Justin posted on Instagram and he was like, just play it while you're sleeping. Play it 24 hours a day. Do you know what I'm talking about? Yes, I do. I don't because this is just a single. It wasn't like an album, but that would track. Yeah, I completely agree with that. Yeah. So people are always like, oh, Scooter Braun's shady. He doesn't earn. He's not earning the accolades that he says he is. In March 2022, Business Insider publishes an expose into Scooter Braun's empire.

50:13Among the revelations is a possible line of reasoning for Taylor Swift's original hatred for Scooter. Scooter Braun's allegedly overbearing involvement in Justin's on and off relationship with Selena Gomez, who obviously is one of Taylor's best friends. One source claims there's bad blood between both camps developed during the relationship due to Scooter. And another source says that Scooter's handling of the relationship between Justin and Selena left a really bad taste in Taylor's mouth. Scooter Braun's attorney, Marty Singer, said that, no, that's not true, that Scooter continues to have a very good relationship with Selena, citing a photo of them together in 2015.

50:48I never thought of that, about Taylor's hatred for Scooter being in part due to his conspiring to get Justin and Selena together. I don't know if I buy that. Do you? I feel like Taylor is a smart girl. I feel like she just saw how toxic Justin was treating Selena and was kind of like, you suck. I don't think it had anything to do with Scooter Braun. I completely agree. Yeah. I think Taylor just knew. That seems like a reach. Yeah. She knew that the relationship has always been trash. Yeah. In January of 2023, Justin sells his publishing rights and master royalties to the song fund Hypnosis for over$200 million.

51:25It was Hypnosis's largest acquisition ever. Billboard called it the largest rights sale for any artist of Justin's generation. And people were like, huh, that's weird. People don't usually sell publishing rights and master royalties unless they're kind of like strapped for cash. But you have to remember a couple years earlier, Justin had canceled like the last couple tour dates for purpose. He's not really committed to completing tours. And you have to remember there's so much upfront costs when it comes to stadium or arena tours. He probably lost a lot of money and he realized he was dipping in probably into funds that he didn't have.

51:59So he thought, okay, the best way for me to get a quick cash grab is through selling my masters. But then you have to, it also calls into question, like, what is Scooter Braun's involvement in helping manage Justin's career? Like, why is he so strapped for cash that he needs to do this? This is when I feel like people started to ask questions. Yeah. In March of 2023, after multiple delays due to the pandemic and Justin's diagnosis with Ramsey Hunt syndrome, Justin quietly cancels yet another tour, his Justice tour, which was slated for 100 dates. And this fucking pissed Scooter off, obviously, because with any tour, again, there's a bunch of upfront costs that occur.

52:36And I would bet that Scooter was fronting a lot of the costs. So I think this is kind of where it began, where there was a little bit of tension between Scooter and Justin. What's interesting is later that year, Justin officially breaks up with Scooter. Just seven months after ending his tour in August of 2023, Justin is looking for new management and has allegedly not spoken to Braun in months. And Bieber, I guess, still had time left on his contract with Scooter. But I guess Justin had signed his contract with Scooter right before the Hive acquisition that Scooter helped to broker. So he was going against his contract.

53:14And people were also very confused because around that same time, Ariana and Demi also left Scooter Braun at the time. So everyone was like, why is everyone leaving Scooter right now in the time of 2023? Like Justin didn't finish off his tour. He sold the rights to his masters. Ariana and Demi also left. And there were reports that both Justin and Hailey were super displeased with Scooter's management. Not only with him, but Allison Kaye. And if you're an OG believer, you know who Alison Kay is. She was part of Justin's team from the very beginning, obviously, because she was working for Scooter Braun since the very beginning of time.

53:51But I guess Justin and Haley were very displeased with Alison for the way that she was managing the Justice tour and that kind of channel into their displeasure towards Scooter 2. And it later came out. Sorry to interrupt. I remember when all this was happening and people were like, something big is going to come out about Scooter Braun. There's a reason they're all dropping him right now. And then nothing really came out about him. Ultimately, the timing of this makes a lot of sense to me. If he was taking on a more corporate executive role at Hybe, again, he probably just was like, I don't really care about this.

54:23I've made enough money to where I don't need to give as much as I was in like 2011, 2012. And his clients were like, okay, just because you have the name recognition doesn't mean that you can treat us like shit or basically not do anything for our career. Right. And I mean, even just like reading the contracts for like a small podcast tour, marketing, promotional materials, overall investment made by the tour company, it's all incurred. And you can't buy it back unless you go on tour and recoup those costs doing like ticket sales and merchandise sales. Yeah. And if Justin leaves the tour with 100 shows remaining, that's a huge, huge net loss that ultimately Hybe Entertainment ultimately ended up covering on behalf of Justin when he canceled the tour.

55:08Yeah, they have to like eat the cost. Yep. And Justin initially said, don't worry, Scooter, I'll pay it back over time. But he never made a single payment. And by mid 2025, this dispute had finally been settled after there was so much tabloid and publicity about this. It had been settled and it turned out that Justin was kind of in the wrong. Justin agreed to pay Scooter$26 million to cover a tour advance and outstanding commissions. And in addition to paying Scooter back for the tour advance, Justin also paid an additional$5.5 million, which covers half of the$11 million in unpaid commissions that he never paid to Scooter.

55:40So net-net, he owed Scooter$31.5 million. Wow. And interestingly enough, TMZ reported that Justin and Scooter settled the dispute the same day that Justin announced his seventh album, Swag, and the same day that he launched his fashion brand, Skylark. And in 2025, Justin and Scooter no longer follow one another on Instagram. And fans believe this was a result of basically everything that went down. Obviously, the financial dispute, they almost went to court for it. They had multiple independent auditors. I think they had PWC go ahead and audit, like, Justin's financials to make sure that the dispute that Scooter was saying was, in fact, true.

56:17And ultimately, like, Scooter was in the right. There was a lot of pushback, though, during this time. People saying Scooter is not being fair to his clients. Again, he's pushing them to death. Justin Bieber clearly does not want to be on tour. He's never liked being on tour. He doesn't like to travel. He doesn't like to put this much strain on his body. Not everyone can be Taylor Swift. Like Taylor Swift being able to tour eras for two years, putting on three hour shows. And I think she canceled maybe one, max two, the entire duration of two years. She has a work ethic and hustler mentality that I think most artists, like the normal person will never have.

56:50Like I I could never do what Taylor Swift did. Most people could not. No. And it's so, it's like the physical strain of it, I think is totally understandable for someone like Justin to be like, I can't, my body can't handle that. Right. And I think I don't blame Justin for realizing that he bit off more than he could chew and realizing like, listen, I've already done a couple shows. To think about another hundred is like so taxing on me emotionally. And I remember watching the Avicii documentary on Netflix, if you guys haven't watched it, when, as we now know, Avicii tragically took his own life a couple of years ago.

57:24But on that documentary, his tour manager is listing off all the tour dates that Avicii is set to perform at. And as he's going down the cities, Avicii's literally like, can you stop? I actually am getting high anxiety for every city you keep mentioning. Like, this is too much. And Avicii wasn't crying for help and ultimately took his own life because it was too much for him. And I'd imagine like Justin Bieber was probably under similar stress and he probably felt a lot of pressure to continue the tour. And I have to commend Justin Bieber for basically saying, I know like the financial hardship I will have to endure when I cancel this tour.

57:57And I'm still going to cancel it because my mental health is deteriorating. Yeah. He knew he was going to disappoint a lot of people, including his management and his fans and so many people. And he was like, I need to do what's best for me. So like, good for him. Yeah, I agree. And I remember even seeing Ariana Grande during her Seven Rings era in 2018, I saw her in concert, And this was just a year after the 2017 Manchester incident. And I could tell when she was performing thinking, this girl does not want to be here. She's miserable. Why is her management pushing her so much to do this? And that was Scooter Braun, right?

58:29Yes. Yes. And I just feel like so badly for these artists that with streaming, like we're not at Tower Records purchasing albums anymore. It's not about album sales. The way that you earn money on your music is through touring. That is basically the only way in merchandise. Yeah. So it makes sense why these musical artists are like hawking so many other side hustles. I don't know. Freaking clothing lines. Yeah, exactly. Because they have to. Otherwise, you make music and there's all this cost incurred that you have to pay the producers. And then you're left with basically nothing unless you go out and fucking break your body down.

59:01Crazy. So let's talk about the Taylor Swift saga. So Taylor Swift recorded her first six albums at Big Machine Records before leaving. Big Machine owned the rights to the majority of Taylor's catalog. And as we already mentioned, Scooter's Ithaca Holdings purchased Big Machine in June of 2019. And Taylor Swift publicly objected to the new ownership on her Tumblr page. TPT's are like that era. That feels like a fever train. Yeah, her Tumblr page. Yeah, that we had to Taylor Swift at that time. Yeah. She was looking to purchase her catalog back from Big Machine. And basically, she was told she was not able to do anything with her old music, including using the music for her Netflix stock, Miss Americana, or for her AMA performance.

59:38she kind of galvanized other artists and those who are also managed by Scooter by way of her fans to let them know how you feel about this. Without going into the infamous Teller post because it's kind of long she basically says listen as Scooter Braun they have said that I'm not allowed to perform my old songs on TV because they claim that that would be re-recording my music before I'm allowed to next year. Wasn't planning on telling you this news Netflix has created a documentary about my life over the past few years. Scott and Scooter have declined the use of my older music or performance footage for this project, even though there is no mention of either of them or Big Machine Records anywhere in the film.

1:00:12The message being sent to me is very clear. Basically, be a good little girl and shut up or you will be punished. Please let Scott Borchetta and Scooter Braun know how you feel about this. Scooter also manages several artists who I really believe care about other artists and their work. And when Taylor asks the Swifties to do something, they will do it. They're going to do it. They're going to do it. She's mobilizing an army. No, I would be horrified if I were Scooter Braun. Oh, you do not want to be on the receiving end of the Swifties' ire. Horrible. You would have to put me in witness protection program.

1:00:48Yeah. So tons of celebrities came to Taylor's defense, and obviously the Swifties did their thing too. Scooter Braun's former client, Todd McCall, took to Twitter to share his own experience with the producer tweeting about Scooter, saying, Scooter is an evil person whose only concern is his wealth and feeding his disgusting ego. I believe he is homophobic and I know this from his own mouth that he is not a Taylor Swift fan. What? Not the homophobia. Oh my god. Some of Scooter's clients came to his defense a la Demi Lovato and Justin Bieber. Demi said, I have dealt with bad people in the industry and Scooter is not one of them.

1:01:24He is a good man. To add insult to injury, Demi also got messier on the heels of all this Tumblr saga. Demi took to her Instagram stories after Taylor Swift won the award for video of the year at the VMAs. And she wrote, I skipped the VMAs for a reason. And then she, on the next story, she goes, well, that, and I just hate award show. Just like adding fuel to the fire. Yeah. The day after Taylor's Tumblr post, Big Machine Records gave a long-winded statement on their website saying that the narrative you've created does not exist. As Taylor Swift's partner for over a decade. We were shocked to see her Tumblr statements yesterday based on false information.

1:02:00At no point did we say Taylor could not perform on the AMAs or block her Netflix special. In fact, we do not have the right to keep her from performing live anywhere. Since Taylor's decision to leave Big Machine last fall, we have continued to honor all of her requests to license her catalog to third parties as she promotes her current record lover, which we do not financially participate. And they also accused Taylor of contractually owing millions of dollars and multiple assets to their company, which is responsible for 120 hardworking employees who helped build her career. Obviously, Tree Payne did her thing and said, actually, Big Machine, you owe Taylor$7.9 million in unpaid royalties.

1:02:34So they're just going at it. And it's this public display of just, like, really, really wealthy people fighting on the internet and the Swifties coming to attack. Yeah. Nine days after the AMAs, Big Machine executives told TMZ that Taylor could, in fact, perform her catalog. Oh, this was before the AMAs. Yeah, sorry, before the AMAs. And Scooter is like plinging with Taylor. He's like, listen, your fans are threatening my kids. They're showing up to my kids' school. You need to intervene publicly. This is not okay. I remember this. And at that point, I was like, even though I was on Taylor's side and all of this and always will be, why are the Swifties showing up at his kids' school?

1:03:12If that is in fact true. And I feel like Taylor will be aware of that and know that very often, in my opinion, that her fans are taking it too far. and she doesn't care. Selena Gomez and Taylor Swift are very similar to that. They both galvanize their fans. In Selena's case, be kind. Stop, Chrissy. I was literally, oh my God. Can I just say as a side note that I was at this diner last night for dinner that they film only murders in the building at. It's right by my apartment. Oh my God, take a picture. Do you watch that show? I haven't watched them. I've watched a couple episodes of the most recent season.

1:03:53I'm not done. So I don't even watch it, but I was with my friend who watches it, and she was doing her Selena Gomez impression. And I was like, oh, my God, you have to hear Christy's impression of Selena Gomez. It is so good. I was, like, talking you up. I was like, the impressions, your impressions are so good. Yours included? No. Selena Gomez again. Oh, God, I can't do it on K. She's like, they, I can't. She doesn't move her mouth. She's like, do you come on? Yeah, I can't do it. But you have to call her out for her egregious behavior at times. She loves to stoke the fires. And she galvanizes her fans more than Taylor Swift, in my opinion.

1:04:31Yeah. And like out of nothing. Taylor Swift had a right to be outraged by what happened. Hailey Bieber did a random interview with like WSJ. And she's like, I'm not inspired by brands that don't inspire me. And Selena Gomez made it about her. And everyone was like, Hailey Bieber could be talking about anyone. Fenty Beauty, R.E.M. This is not a target towards you, Selena. Like, shut up. Yeah, she knows what she's doing. That could be a whole other episode. Yeah, for sure. In April of 2020, Taylor was pissed because she said that Big Machine had plans to release an old performance of hers from 10 years ago as a live album.

1:05:02She claims this was a desperate attempt for Scooter to make the money back that they lost from purchasing her master's. She said, quote, it looks to me like scooter brawn and its financial backers 23 capital alex soros and the soros family and the carlisle group have seen the latest balance sheets and realized that paying 330 million dollars for my music wasn't exactly a wise choice and they need money laughing emoji so i guess 300 million dollars for taylor swift's masters i feel like that's pocket change that's nothing that's just like a day in production for an era tour for yeah that's crazy yeah It's not that much, especially now.

1:05:40I mean, the valuation of that has probably skyrocketed. Oh, my God. It's definitely in the billions. Yes. So in November of 2020, I guess Taylor was right. They were making – the investment wasn't what it seemed when Scooter invested in her Masters. So Scooter sells Taylor's Masters for$300 million. He sold the Masters rights to Taylor's first six albums in a deal to Shamrock Capital, who was not affiliated with Taylor. Scooter allegedly knew Taylor was trying to acquire her masters, which is why he sold it off to this investment fund. In 2021, when Taylor realizes, okay, now my masters are out of Scooter's hands.

1:06:18They're with another holding company. She's like, fuck it. I'm going to start dropping Taylor's versions. And I genuinely feel like if the Scooter Braun purchase of her masters did not happen, I don't think Taylor Swift would be as big as she is today. Oh, because of all the Taylor's versions? Yes, the re-records, her being in our ears every seven months. Like she would release, re-release a new album with vault tracks. It would skyrocket her back into the streaming. Obviously, the Folkmore era was hugely successful. It put her into the ears that she wouldn't have otherwise been in. She was already on a high from Folkmore.

1:06:52And I feel like with the Taylor's versions, it put her into a different stratosphere. And then couple that with the Ares tour, like she's, again, she's bigger than life now. I completely agree. That's a really good point. Yeah. What originally was something that was a devastating thing that happened to her ended up being so good for her career in the long run. And I wonder what Taylor would have to say about that because she talks about the purchase of her masters in so many songs. Mad Woman, My Tears Ricochet, The Lakes. My Tears Ricochet is probably the most father figure on The Life of a Showgirl.

1:07:28She keeps talking about this and it's a very, very traumatizing event to her. clearly. I mean, she's written about it. Scott Borchetta was a close confidant to her and her family for so long, from the very beginning of her career. He did the biggest betrayal she could have ever done, all for profits. And I wonder if she would say the same thing. Like the most traumatizing event in my life was also the most meaningful to my career almost. That's my opinion. But I feel like she would probably agree with that. Yeah. I hope she does. I hope she can look at it in a way of everything happens for a reason and everything happened as it was supposed to be because obviously she bought her back from Taylor if you're listening to this let us know she's a baby snark same with um who are we talking about up top this this recording feels like it's been five hours so I'm I'm honestly losing track yeah who did we say at the top was a baby snark I can't even remember it's been an early morning it's been a day so in October of 2022 Taylor releases Midnight's with a song Vigilante shit, which was obviously referencing Scooter Braun.

1:08:31Picture me thick as thieves with your ex-wife. Draw the kind eyes sharp enough to kill a man. Speaking of Tumblr, that was the first moment where I was like, she's literally taking lyrics from Tumblr. I mean, the life of a showgirl that proved anything. Yeah. Proved to me that she had a ghostwriter on Folkmore because what the fuck was that? That's a whole other episode. June 2024, Scooter Braun officially retires from music management, but we all know he hadn't been really managing music careers for a while. He officially announces his retirement on IG, reveals that he's been thinking of leaving the industry as a manager for the past two years.

1:09:07He'll still be the CEO of Hybe Entertainment and serve as a national board member of A Make-A-Wish to help individuals and communities through our family's Braun Foundation. The Taylor Swift versus Scooter Braun Bad Blood documentary premiered on HBO Max. Scooter spoke about it at an event saying that he did in fact watch it and he said I watched a documentary recently I wasn't going to watch it because I just thought it was going to be like another hit piece and I pretty much stayed quiet about this kind of stuff and my dad called me and my mom did and they were like we just watched it we think you should so I did I think for everyone it's time to move on there were a lot of things that were misrepresented I think doing it out on social media and in front of the whole world is not the place I think when people actually take the time to stand in front of each other, have a conversation.

1:09:49They usually find out the monster's not real and that has not happened. So he's begged Taylor for an in-person conversation, at least publicly. I don't know behind the scenes like what each camp has told the other. But he has been vehement as has Justin Bieber when he was so close with Scooter. Like Scooter's trying to have a conversation with you, Taylor. Like you refuse to sit down with him. So like stop, again, telling your fans to go attack online. Have a real adult face-to-face conversation, which I kind of wish he did as well. Right. In 2023, there were many other artist departures outside of Demi and Ariana and Justin.

1:10:22The Kid Leroy left. J Balvin had left. In August of 2023, Scooter jokingly tweeted, Breaking news. I'm no longer managing myself. People theorize. Ha ha ha. So funny. People theorize that Ariana Grande left Scooter Braun because obviously when Wicked was being filmed and there were all these allegations that she was cheating with Ethan Slater. She was cheating on her husband. Ethan Slater's wife was, had just been, was pregnant, just had their child. People were irate at Ariana Grande for being a homewrecker. And her PR was down in the dumps. Like this was even before, what's the album called that she just released?

1:11:04Before her most recent album where she talked to the haters, people were pissed at her. And Scooter Braun really didn't get her out of the dumps. And people said that Scooter had declined to be present for her during her worst nightmare PR situation in years. But I guess he was on a yacht somewhere when she called him. So she was like, if you can't be there for me during my weakest moments, I'm dropping you. That's what people think happened to Ariana. It's speculation, but it sounds right. Yep. Let's talk about his relationships and dating lastly. So he had been married to Yael. As we mentioned up top, they share two sons and one daughter.

1:11:36They were together for seven years and separated in July of 2021. Scooter was the one who filed for divorce due to irreconcilable differences. However, Yael allegedly had been having an affair and Scooter traded exclusive stories to protect his ex-wife's alleged affair from being reported in the media. I had no idea about this. I didn't either. The Blast, you know, a very reputable source, has exclusively learned in the summer of 2021, Braun was contacted by a media outlet after filing for divorce, which was reaching out to him to confirm a story about a year-long secret relationship between his wife and another man.

1:12:09were told that the reporter had specific details, including all parties involved. He found out about her affair, I guess, around the time that Ithaca Holdings purchased Big Machine, and he was apparently very distant with his wife while he was focusing on that transaction. They tried reconciling, but he fell into a deep depression, and Page Six reported that Scooter entered a treatment center in Northern California called the Hoffman Process Program. Oh, I've heard—I know people that have done that. It's apparently, like, really, really, really transformative. but it's obviously really expensive.

1:12:40It's giving like Shawn Mendes. No, it's like Remy Bader. Remy Bader did it. It's one of those things where you unleash your inner deepest, darkest thoughts and feelings and you just feel your raw emotions and you are in this very like immersive experience with a bunch of other people that are like going through something in their life. That's how I've heard it described at least, something like that. Okay, so. Honestly, if I could afford it, that sounds like something that I could use. I'm a very troubled person. This, this is a haunted house up here. Up here, they don't stop talking. The voices are incessant.

1:13:16Yeah, exactly. But interestingly, what Scooter has to say about the process on, or the treatment center on Jay Shetty podcast. Jay Shetty. By the way, we need to do a Jay Shetty episode. We've gotten so many requests. I hate him. I know. I know. Same. Who's worse? Jay Shetty. Or Lames. They're like kind of the same person, different fonts in a way. Lames wishes he had the reach that Jay Shetty did though. Yeah. Scooter said, because one, we're all coming in with our own trauma and weirdly our trauma was matching up and I couldn't fix it. And I'm a fixer. Since I was a kid, I was the guy who was going to make it okay for everybody.

1:13:56And I just couldn't fix things at this moment in time. Obviously, just speaking about his marriage. Also, when the divorce was announced, it was speculated online, and I totally remember these rumors circulating, that Scooter was having an affair with Erika Jayne. Oh, my God. I didn't hear about that once. Oh, yes. I remember when this rumor was making its way. That's so disturbing. But also, like, I can see it. Oh, absolutely. Me as well. Erika said that the rumor was silly as fuck. She should have, like, just played into it because, like, she's a thirst monster. No joke. Erika Jayne would be so lucky.

1:14:29But also think about how embarrassing that is for Scooter Braun. That even Erika Jayne doesn't want to claim you. That's so embarrassing. I mean, Erika Jayne would be so lucky not because Scooter Braun is like a saint. It's because he has so much money that Erika Jayne wishes she gets to watch herself. Yeah, he actually has like real like clout in Hollywood. And Erika Jayne is Erika Jayne. Right. She wishes. Wait, that is so embarrassing. And I apparently, I don't know, this rumor was circulating in the blind item universe for a while. From my recollection. Wow. During the divorce, Scooter kept his$65 million house and his private jet.

1:15:04Okay. First of all, just pause right there. I did not realize that. Obviously, I knew he was, like, wealthy. But$65 million house and private jet wealthy? Living like Jeff Bezos. You know, literally. Like, it's like a Kardashian. His ex-wife got the family's$30 million home. So just two homes worth$100 million, as well as$20 million in cash, along with shared custody. of their three children. This is so funny. Scooter said that Yael remains one of his best friends and they still consider themselves on the same team. So much so that they each got a tattoo on their finger that says, same team, after they filed for divorce.

1:15:43I hate that. That's so Hollywood. Isn't that so, like, what is it? A conscious uncoupling. Yeah. Same team. Yeah. And of course now, he's been seen gallivanting around New York City with none other than Sidney Sweeney. and around September of this year, it was reported that the two were casually dating, which, like, broke the internet. No one really believed it until photos of them surfaced on packwalks together, and they were allegedly initially linked through Jeff Bezos' wedding in Venice, where they were seen, like, chatting, whispering, getting to know one another, and then they were seen on dinner dates, parties, going to a haunted house with Sydney's family, and just recently, they were photographed kissing in Central Park on a rock.

1:16:26And it was clearly like they called the paps. There was another pap photo I noticed of them today. Another one just like this, like a rock kissing photo, but like same energy. And also like his little like white socks, his little ankles and his loafers. Ugh. And let's just also, I think it's worth pointing out that Sydney Sweeney and we actually are, we just did a Patreon episode about this. Yeah. So go on patreon.com slash North Bay Pod. We just did an episode on Sydney Sweeney if you want to hear more about this. Sydney Sweeney is having the worst PR of her life. It's interesting how every celebrity that Scooter Braun manages, this is the worst PR I've ever experienced.

1:17:07And now his girlfriend is having just the most terrible PR. And people are like, you dating Scooter Braun is so even more horrible for your image. It's like, what is Sydney Sweeney doing with him? It's such a bad look all around. I don't get it. It's fascinating to me. I don't get it because Cindy Sweeney, and I know this isn't an episode about Cindy Sweeney, obviously. We have that on Patreon. But I don't know. It's crazy. Like he is, like I said at the top of the episode, he is one of the most hated people in Hollywood for a good reason. So like for her to attach herself to him at this moment when she needs all the good press she can get is so confounding.

1:17:46And she's Cindy Sweeney. She can have anyone she wants. Why Scooter Braun? Because he's rich, I guess? the thing I believe with Sydney Sweeney and of course we're going to talk about it more in yesterday's episode with on Patreon but I think that Sydney Sweeney's career has been very interesting to me I feel like she was trying to put herself on this pedestal like I am a serious actor and over the last like year it seems as if she's actually trying to double down on being disliked and part of that is like allying herself with one of the most hated men in Hollywood yeah It's almost like she cares.

1:18:20I think at this point, genuinely, she cares less about fame and more about money. Honestly, I think that might be the answer. Is that she went from being like an it girl at the top of her game that there was Oscar buzz about this new movie called Christy. And she's a serious actor. She's been in really serious roles lately. And then all of a sudden she's moving like a C-list like Bravo Liberty. just doing like silly stunts and silly interviews and trying to piss people off on purpose for attention. But yeah, maybe she thinks that that's a more lucrative route. And I think Scooter Brown, like we said,$65 million house, private jet money.

1:18:56Maybe she's like, yeah, I just care about the money. I don't care about the prestige. I don't care about being taken seriously as an actress because right now people do not take her seriously anymore. 100 % agree. And I would say that to be famous is a sacrifice and you could be famous you will be famous and have a lot of money but the most preferred method is to be wealthy and not famous so think of executive producers in hollywood or people like ceo of high of america or ceo of quality control they're in the entertainment business but the spotlight is not on them and i feel like yeah sydney sweeney has gotten a taste of fame and listen i think she does care a lot about her paycheck i mean anyone does She was quoted in that one article a couple years back saying, it's actually very expensive to be me.

1:19:38My net payment towards myself is much lower than you think because I have to pay attorneys and teams and glam and da-da-da-da. But I think that she's always the face of so many campaigns. Lonnie J, Baskin-Robbins, American Eagle. She constantly has her name and likeness across so many campaigns because she wants more money. And I think at this point, she just doesn't care. She doesn't care about being respected. She cares about her bag. Yeah, it's like she's a glorified influencer now. Yeah, 100%. So that's the tea on Scooter Braun. What are your closing thoughts, Sophie? Do we think he's as dark energy as we thought at top?

1:20:14Or what are your thoughts? I mean, yeah. I think that what it comes down to, and this was kind of your overview at the beginning, is that he is just a hustler. Like, by any means necessary, he will push these artists to their brink. He will screw people over. But he's good at it. And it's gotten him, like we said, I'm sorry, can't get over the$65 million house in private jet. It's gotten him this much money. He knows what he's doing. But yeah, it's obviously he's pretty nefarious, greedy, but it works for him, I guess. Yes. It's like you got to kind of respect the hustle, I guess, at the end of the day.

1:20:53I don't know. Yeah, I agree. I think that at the end of the day, you have to respect someone who really didn't come from a really well-to-do family. Like, it's humble beginnings. His family probably had a bit of money, like dentists and orthodontists. They make good money, but he's not an epobaby. He's really been able to create this empire. Empires bring artists from nothing to everything with very little. So I think you have to respect that. And in the United States of America, I guess you can be anyone if you're putting your mind to it and he's really kind of proved that. He's also a white man, so that helps as well.

1:21:26But he does have a very strong work ethic that I can respect. And yeah, that's all she wrote. You guys know where to find us at snarkbaitpod on Instagram. I'm at christynoelle underscore underscore. sophie is at soph underscore ross we have wednesday episodes on patreon every week so head on over there as well as ad free and thank you to our amazing team jordan rachel olivia kartik and we'll see you guys on tuesday for another episode of det bye bye

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