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Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Demi Lovato tipped to ditch Scooter Braun

Things appear to be taking a turn for the worse for the man who helped bring Justin Bieber to stardom. <i>Photo: Reuters</i>

Things appear to be taking a turn for the worse for the man who helped bring Justin Bieber to stardom. Photo: Reuters

You may not have heard of Scooter Braun, unless you’ve been paying attention to his infamous feud with Taylor Swift over the past few years.

But social media is abuzz with his name as once-loyal stars seem to be dropping him like a hot plate, leading to mounting speculation a scandal surrounding the talent manager and music executive is about to break.

The information is yet to be confirmed, but reports began emerging this week that A-list stars Ariana Grande, Demi Lovato, Idina Menzel and J Balvin have abandoned Braun’s management stable.

Perhaps even more concerning for Braun are reports that Justin Bieber is also looking to join the exodus; this would put an end to a 15-year professional relationship, which began when Braun signed the then-13-year-old Bieber in 2008.

Justin Bieber

Bieber has been a loyal client to Braun since the talent manager helped kickstart his lucrative career. Photo: AAP

None of the speculation has been officially confirmed by anyone involved, but it also hasn’t been shut down.

However, Braun – who also manages Australian artist The Kid Laroi – did take some time away from posting pictures of his recent holiday to poke fun at the recent social media furore.

“Breaking news … I’m no longer managing myself,” he posted on X on Wednesday.

Loyal history adds to speculation

The turn of events has particularly raised eyebrows given many of these stars, including Bieber, Grande and Lovato, stuck by Braun’s side through a wave of negative publicity after the entrepreneur bought Swift’s previous music label in 2019, in a deal that included the rights to the master recordings of Swift’s first six albums.

Following the sale, which reportedly cost Braun’s Ithaca Holdings LLC more than $US300 million ($467 million), Swift publicly lashed out, labelled Braun an “incessant, manipulative bully” and claimed she wasn’t given a fair chance to buy her master recordings.

Though the situation eventually led to a Swift renaissance through her re-recording of old albums, Braun quickly becoming public enemy No.1 for Swift’s fans.

The situation got worse after he then attempted to have Swift sign an “ironclad” non-disclosure agreement in exchange for signing over the rights to her songs, which the singer said included the provision she would never say another negative word about Braun.

Following the debacle, the stars who were happy to stay under the umbrella of Braun’s management seemed unfazed by the negative publicity surrounding their manager.

Bieber and Lovato were among the few stars to publicly stand up for Braun in 2019, with Lovato calling him a “good man” while Bieber insisted Braun “had [Swift’s] back” for years.

Their previous staunch support for Braun has made their current silence in the face of recent reports all the more noticeable, fuelling rumours unsavoury information about the talent manager is about to come to light.

A bigger role

But there are also reports that the apparent mass exit of some of the biggest names on Braun’s roster are simply happening because Braun is taking a step back from day-to-day management duties to focus on his role as CEO of HYBE America – the label helping to manage one of the world’s biggest boy bands, BTS.

“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,” a source told Variety.

“People are spreading rumours based on what they know, but they are off. Scooter’s team at SB Projects are still handling both Justin and Ariana as they work through what this new structure looks like.”

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