Taylor Swift took her beef with Scooter Braun to the stage during the 2019 Billboard Women in Music ceremony on Thursday night. Swift, who was honored with the Woman of the Decade award, called out Braun and his company Ithaca Holdings for purchasing her former record label, Big Machine Label Group.
When the purchase was made, Braun took over the masters to Swift’s first six albums which led to the ongoing dispute.
“This just happened to me without my approval, consultation or consent. After I was denied the chance to purchase my music outright, my entire catalog was sold to Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings in a deal that I’m told was funded by the Soros family, 23 Capital and the Carlyle Group. Yet, to this day, none of these investors have ever bothered to contact me or my team directly— to perform their due diligence on their investment. On their investment in me. To ask how I might feel about the new owner of my art, the music I wrote, the videos I created, photos of me, my handwriting, my album designs,” Swift said.
She then specifically ripped into Braun saying, he “never contacted me or my team to discuss it prior to the sale or even when it was announced. I’m fairly certain he knew exactly how I would feel about it though — and let me just say that the definition of toxic male privilege in our industry is people saying, ‘But he’s always been nice to me,’ when I’m raising valid concerns about artists and their right to own their music. And of course he’s nice to you — if you’re in this room, you have something he needs.”
Actress Jameela Jamil presented Swift with the award and praised her for directly calling out Braun in her speech.
“Watching a young woman speak up and speak out like that complete fearlessly and unapologetically about rampant gender inequality was pretty iconic,” she wrote on Twitter.
I just gave @taylorswift13 the Woman Of The Decade award at @billboard awards and she fucking WENT there with her speech. Watching a young woman speak up and speak out like that, completely Fearlessly and unapologetically about rampant gender inequality… was pretty iconic.
pic.twitter.com/mY8ssqy8kl
— Jameela Jamil
(@jameelajamil) December 13, 2019
(@jameelajamil) Swift received the honor just one day prior to her 30th birthday, so happy birthday, Taylor.