Scooter Braun gave a rare interview in his interview The second thought of the free press The podcast was published Thursday, in which the music executive commented on a wide range of topics, from the strength of Spencer Pratt’s mayoral candidacy to the monopoly allegations against Live Nation and Ticketmaster to the controversy stemming from his now-infamous decision to purchase Taylor Swift’s masters when he bought Big Machine Records back in 2019.
“free press” Susie Weiss began the interview by immediately asking if he would vote for Brat, which Brown said he doesn’t tell people who to vote for but described himself as a moderate who votes both ways. He said it was “very possible” that he would win the election.
“What I really appreciate about what Spencer does is that he highlights a lot of things that no one else has highlighted,” Brown said. “I think he speaks for a lot of people who are very frustrated and want common sense and want people to speak clearly and address certain things. It’s interesting to watch.”
Pratt’s campaign turned the race for Los Angeles mayor into a national news story, with entertainment figures such as Joe Rogan and Adam Carolla endorsing him — along with President Donald Trump — for the position. The former reality TV star with no political experience is expected to be the most controversial candidate in the race, with others, including Jimmy Kimmel and Drew Carey, encouraging voters to stay away from him.
Aside from Pratt, Brown discussed finding his former management client Justin Bieber in his early days, referring to the pop star as “one of the most extraordinary talents, he was charismatic, he was fearless.”
He also spoke about his former co-star Kanye West, who he represented from 2016 to 2018 during the rapper’s concert. The life of Pablo era. Brown, who is Jewish, acknowledged West’s anti-Semitic comments over the past several years, calling them “very upsetting to me,” but also praised the rapper for the creative brilliance he witnessed at the time, saying West “taught me how to see color and design differently,” recalling the story of West quickly designing the famous T-shirts from his Saint Pablo tour.
West was reluctant to sell merchandise on the tour for fear of the quality, but in a meeting with West and the late artist and fashion designer Virgil Abloh at West’s New York apartment, Brown told him that fans wanted something to buy since no one had ticket stubs anymore.
“He says, ‘Virgil, come here.’ He basically designs a T-shirt that says ‘Acceptance.’ He sets the show date for the next day and everything else, and says, ‘This is your merchandise.’ He heard this story and turned it into [the shirt] It ended up becoming the best-selling shirt and broke all commercial records. That was his genius.
Brown said his reputation changed dramatically “overnight” after he bought out Swift’s masters in the Big Machine buyout in 2019, saying “it went from being loved and appreciated for over a decade to literally the next night,” he was evil.
“I don’t know Taylor Swift,” Brown said, looking at the controversy surrounding him. “I think I’ve met her three times in my life. I’ve never had a substantive conversation with her in my life. I was once invited to a private party by her. She told me she had the greatest respect for me. I told her I had the greatest respect for her. You can’t spend $300 million to buy a brand you’re working on unless you’re excited about the opportunity to work with her. I’ll never truly understand that situation to this day. I wish her nothing but the best. I’ve learned a tremendous amount from it.”
Brown called it “this big misconception that we knew each other and had this animosity,” adding that “people are shocked when they find out that I legitimately don’t know her and I haven’t had a lot of interactions with her and I never knew her.”
For her part, Swift wrote an extensive note on her Tumblr account after the sale, in which she wrote, “Anytime [Big Machine founder] “Scott Borchetta heard the phrase ‘Scooter Braun’ come out of my lips, and that’s when I was crying or trying not to.”
Brown went on to sell Swift’s masters to VC Shamrock, and Swift, of course, ended up buying the rights last year.
Brown also addressed speaking out about anti-Semitism and Zionism after October 7, saying, “I think we have a big problem in the world today of not taking the time to discuss the nuances of words, to discuss the gray side.”
In the interview, Brown only alluded to his relationship with Sydney Sweeney, did not mention her name and refused to tell Weiss how they met, saying “I’m not going to get into that, that’s personal.”
“I met an extraordinary woman,” Brown said. “She is kind, generous, smart, real, down to earth, and one of the biggest surprises ever.”
Weiss asked if he was watching tranceHe said: “I’m biased, I like it. I think there was an amazing performance by a certain actress.”
Watch the full interview below.
