The dominoes continue to fall for celebrity manager Scooter Braun. You probably remember when he bought Taylor Swift’s whole catalog, prompting her to re-record and re-release all her music so she could still get paid for it. Now a number of his high profile clients are leaving.
First, Justin Bieber parted ways with the superstar manager last week. While the pop singer is apparently under contract still, Puck News is reporting that he’s looking for new management. That was just the start.
Next up is Idina Menzel and Demi Lovato. NBC News spoke with a source close to the matter and is reporting that the splits have been amicable. The official line is that Braun is moving into a new higher-profile role.
“All of Scooter Braun’s clients are under contract and negotiations have been going on for several months as Scooter steps into his larger role as Hybe America CEO. People are spreading rumors based on what they know but they are off.”
Also reportedly on the outs are Ariana Grande and Colombian singer J Balvin. None of the artists have commented publicly about the splits. Right now everything is speculation, but one source said told Variety that “It’s a different world since the pandemic. You just can’t be an asshole like that anymore.”
Braun took to X/Twitter to make fun of the whole situation himself. “Breaking news… I’m no longer managing myself.”
One comment illustrates the rumor mill. The unofficial line is that Braun’s about to get hit with a big scandal, but there’s no proof of anything like that yet.
This is one of those situations where people outside of Braun’s camp are saying one thing and outside the camp is a completely different story. There’s also the issue of Braun’s public image. A cursory search will confirm that this man is not well liked.
There are a lot of people out there who would love to see this man go down. Regardless, Braun has been making moves. His first acquisition as CEO of Hybe was Atlanta hip-hop company Quality Control, which handles Migos, Lil Baby, Lil Yachty and others. He reportedly paid $320 million, per Variety.
Oh, and here’s something fun:
Further muddying the waters is the fact that several of Braun’s clients have left and come back and left again. Grande parted ways in 2016 but came back. Both Kanye West and Kid Laroi did the same. This leaves us with two possibilities: Braun is moving out of management and into CEO land, or something really big is going to come out really soon. Either way, we’ll keep you posted.
