What’s really going on between Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber?

It’s a complicated case of stars using social media to air their grievances online. Taylor Swift has recently claimed that she’s being bullied by the same person who manages both Justin Bieber and Kanye West — Scooter Braun.

However, Bieber is not happy with what he sees as Swift’s persecution of Braun’s character, and the two are now embroiled in a social media war.

The root of all of this drama is proof that child stardom is a nightmare. Born out of a contract Taylor Swift signed when she was just 15, the singer essentially has no rights to any of her own music. The record label Big Machine owns masters to her first six albums, and they were just bought over by Scooter Braun.

Braun bought the record label for $300 million, meaning he makes money from every song Swift has released before this year. If you don’t know Braun, chances are you know his portfolio. He’s the man who made Bieber a star after recognising his talent on YouTube, he owns the agency that represents Ariana Grande, and he tweeted Psy’s Gangnam Style out to his followers bringing it into mainstream consciousness. 

Swift is not happy with the sale, discussing her attempts to try and buy the rights to her own music from Big Machine.

“For years I asked, pleaded for a chance to own my work,” she wrote.

Taylor claims Big Machine offered her a chance to earn “one album back at a time” in exchange for every new one she recorded after her original record contract with them expired.

“All I could think about was the incessant, manipulative bullying I’ve received at his [Braun] hands for years.”

In an impassioned Tumblr post talking about the injustices in her music career, placing blame partly on Braun. She also got Bieber involved, referring back to a post of his from 2016 taunting her.

The post shows an Instagram post by JB with the caption “Taylor Swift what up” while in a video call with the likes of Kanye West and Braun.

As you may expect, Bieber quickly weighed in on the matter, with the classic “sorry, but” apology. He said sorry for the Instagram post, saying Braun had “nothing to do with it”. That’s about as far as the apologies go though.

“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,” he wrote.

View this post on Instagram

Hey Taylor. 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.. I have to be honest though it was my caption and post that I screenshoted of scooter and Kanye that said “taylor swift what up” he didnt have anything to do with it and it wasnt even a part of the conversation in all actuality he was the person who told me not to joke like that.. Scooter has had your back since the days you graciously let me open up for you.! 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. Anyway, One thing i know is both scooter and i love you. 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..

A post shared by Justin Bieber (@justinbieber) on Jun 30, 2019 at 2:54pm PDT

So there’s two sides of the coin, Braun is a good guy, Braun is a bad guy. When two figures with ‘HUNDREDS’ of millions of fans have opposing views, who do you trust?

By putting all this out in public, it has kicked up a storm, dividing not just fans of both artist’s, but other influential figures around the world.

For those asking, I left Scooter Braun a long time ago…I am saddened by this news, but not shocked. He is an evil person who’s only concern is his wealth and feeding his disgusting ego. I believe he is homophobic & I know from his own mouth that he is not a Swift fan.

— Todrick Hall (@todrick) June 30, 2019

Braun himself has stayed quiet so far, meaning the row is only going to snowball more and more, with more people weighing in on either Team Tay-tay or Team Biebs.