After sudden termination of friendship with Justin Bieber, Scooter Braun mourns end of another high profile relationship

Scooter Braun changed music in the 21st Century. His eye for talent has always been unparalleled, as has his ability to place himself in rooms that would be lucrative five years later.

He was right about Justin Bieber when he discovered the “Sorry” crooner at just 13 years old on YouTube. Even then, watching Bieber sing a cover of Ne-Yo’s “So Sick” was enough for Braun to pitch the then-budding star to names like Justin Timberlake and Usher. But seemingly, what Braun makes up for in talent scouting, he completely lacks in star management.

Time and time again, Braun has been at the center of significant fallouts with stars he once had business relationships with. At first, it was his handling of Taylor Swift’s master recordings, which Braun reportedly sold to a third party without consulting the “Shake It Off” star — immediately making him the villain of her humongous fanbase, the Swifties.

Things weren’t much different with Justin Bieber, whose career is forever linked with Braun’s. While Bieber was just a kid when the two first got into business together, Braun himself was merely a dreamer in the music industry with little more than a few celebrity contacts. But the success of Bieber’s career ensured more people were willing to entrust the now-successful Braun with theirs, including Ariana Grande and Kanye West. The latter, too, eventually had a significant falling out with Braun.

Now, Braun’s reason for falling out with Kanye is truly and wholly the fault of the “Diamonds Are Forever” musician. Lately, Kanye West has embarked on a disturbing career pivot, exhibiting strange, controlling behavior toward his wife, Bianca Censori, while openly flirting with Nazi praise. Nobody truly understands why he’s been pushing these fascist agendas, but understandably, some of his closest allies have since distanced themselves.

Complex reports that Braun was asked about Kanye, and his answer was candid yet tinged with remorse. “I don’t know him anymore,” Braun told the host of the Question Everything podcast, adding, “And I think the person that I knew wasn’t someone who says those things. Sometimes the hardest thing to do with someone you care about is mourn them while they’re still here. The person that I knew is not the person that I’m seeing, so I don’t have a relationship anymore.”

When asked whether he thought Kanye West still had a path to redemption, Braun resisted playing judge and jury, stating that instead of reading the tea leaves of the rapper’s future, he would focus his energy on raising his children. And Braun does have the time — he recently dropped all his celebrity clients to focus on the K-POP-focused Hybe Corporation, but even there, he soon opted to retire. Now, his main focus truly is raising his children.

Kanye West was well on his way to becoming one of the most iconic rappers of all time — his earlier catalog still makes a case that he might be one of the best who ever did it. But now, there’s an unmissable asterisk. It’s impossible to forget all those rants, no matter how good Graduation is.