Justin Bieber has defended his manager, Scooter Braun, after Taylor Swift accused him of “incessant, manipulative bullying”.
Swift, 29, posted a long message on Tumblr following the news that Braun’s Ithaca Holdings had purchased Big Machine Label Group, giving him ownership of her back catalogue.
In her post, Swift used a screen grab of an old social media post showing Bieber, Braun and Kanye West, with the caption: “Taylor Swift what up”.
Bieber posted an old photograph of himself and Swift as he jumped to Braun’s defence following her allegations, writing 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 screenshotted of scooter and Kanye that said ‘Taylor Swift what up’ he didn’t have anything to do with it and it wasn’t even a part of the conversation in all actuality he was the person who told me not to joke like that.”
The Love Yourself singer continued: “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.”
He said both he and Braun “loved Swift” and that he felt communication was the only way to “resolve conflict”.
He ended his post writing: “So banter back and forth online i don’t believe solves anything. I’m sure Scooter and I would love to talk to you and resolve any conflict, pain 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 that’s crossing a line.”
Singer Demi Lovato also joined Bieber in defending Braun, saying on her Insta stories that he is a good man.
She wrote: “Y ‘all can come after me all you want but I’m always gonna stay loyal to my team. I value loyalty more than most people in this world and if my name is gonna be brought into conversations I’m gonna stand up for myself and the ones on my team.
“I have dealt with bad people in this industry and Scooter is not one of them. He’s a good man. Personally, I’m grateful he came into my life when he did. Please stop ‘dragging’ people or bullying them. There’s enough hate in this world as it is.”