Taylor Swift Lays Out Accusations Against Kanye, Kim Kardashian, & Kanye’s Former Manager

Swift, who has been in the headlines for more than her music increasingly over the last year, posted a statement on Tumblr Sunday slamming Big Machine founder Scott Borchetta for selling the rights to all six of her past albums to Scooter Braun, Kanye's former manager. Braun, she alleged, was involved in "incessant, manipulative bullying" of her "for years," with the help of West and Kardashian.

"Some fun facts about today’s news: I learned about Scooter Braun’s purchase of my masters as it was announced to the world," she writes in a "sad and grossed out" post on Tumblr Sunday. "All I could think about was the incessant, manipulative bullying I’ve received at his hands for years. Like when Kim Kardashian orchestrated an illegally recorded snippet of a phone call to be leaked and then Scooter got his two clients together to bully me online about it. (See photo) Or when his client, Kanye West, organized a revenge porn music video which strips my body naked."

"Now Scooter has stripped me of my life’s work, that I wasn’t given an opportunity to buy," she continues. "Essentially, my musical legacy is about to lie in the hands of someone who tried to dismantle it."

Swift's "revenge porn" accusation is a reference to Kanye's "Famous" video in which West appears to be lying in bed with several nude celebrities, including what appears to be a fully naked Swift lying next to him. A few months ago, Swift liked a post by one of her fans calling the "Famous" video "straight up revenge porn": "The ['Famous'] music video was straight up revenge porn. not to mention putting abuse victims next to their abusers and celebrating sexual assaulters. it was disgusting and he doesn’t get enough crap for it." (Here's the video; warning: NSFW.) 

As Fox News notes, Swift's accusation against Kardashian is a reference to her "infamous recording of Swift and West's 'snippet' of a phone call in which [Swift] appeared to give her blessing to the lyrics to his song 'Famous.'" After Swift publicly denied giving West permission to use her name in the song, Kardashian posted the "snippet" on Snapchat.

In 2018, Swift signed with Republic Records, which she praises in her post for believing "I should own anything I create."

Below is Swift's full post about Braun on Tumblr:

For years I asked, pleaded for a chance to own my work. 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.

Some fun facts about today’s news: I learned about Scooter Braun’s purchase of my masters as it was announced to the world. All I could think about was the incessant, manipulative bullying I’ve received at his hands for years.

Like when Kim Kardashian orchestrated an illegally recorded snippet of a phone call to be leaked and then Scooter got his two clients together to bully me online about it. (See photo) Or when his client, Kanye West, organized a revenge porn music video which strips my body naked. Now Scooter has stripped me of my life’s work, that I wasn’t given an opportunity to buy. Essentially, my musical legacy is about to lie in the hands of someone who tried to dismantle it.

This is my worst case scenario. This is what happens when you sign a deal at fifteen to someone for whom the term ‘loyalty’ is clearly just a contractual concept. And when that man says ‘Music has value’, he means its value is beholden to men who had no part in creating it.

When I left my masters in Scott’s hands, I made peace with the fact that eventually he would sell them. Never in my worst nightmares did I imagine the buyer would be Scooter. Any time Scott Borchetta has heard the words ‘Scooter Braun’ escape my lips, it was when I was either crying or trying not to. He knew what he was doing; they both did. Controlling a woman who didn’t want to be associated with them. In perpetuity. That means forever.

Thankfully, I am now signed to a label that believes I should own anything I create. Thankfully, I left my past in Scott’s hands and not my future. And hopefully, young artists or kids with musical dreams will read this and learn about how to better protect themselves in a negotiation. You deserve to own the art you make.

I will always be proud of my past work. But for a healthier option, Lover will be out August 23.

Sad and grossed out,

Taylor