“How was I not invited to this?!?”— Scooter Braun pokes fun at Taylor Swift for not inviting him to her Rhode Island event

Record executive and entrepreneur Scooter Braun took to his Instagram Stories on August 27 and poked fun at his yearslong beef with pop icon Taylor Swift. He reposted a picture of TMZ’s exclusive news report titled, “Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce Host Blake Lively Birthday Bash In Rhode Island,” and captioned it:

“How was I not invited to this?!? #laughalittle.”

Earlier, the New Yorker shared a poster screenshot of the HBO Max’s 2024 documentary Taylor Swift vs Scooter Braun: Bad Blood and claimed, “I finally watched it…”

The mini-docuseries, featuring two episodes titled “Taylor’s Version” and “Scooter’s Version,” focused on their feud, which began in 2019 when Braun purchased $300 million worth of rights to Swift’s first six studio albums.

Blake Lively’s 37th birthday party was hosted by Taylor Swift and her football tight-end boyfriend Travis Kelce at the former’s beachside Westerly Mansion in Rhode Island over the weekend. It was attended by A-listers including Ryan Reynolds, Patrick and Brittany Mahomes, Jason Kelce, Gigi Hadid, Channing Tatum, and Bradley Cooper among others.

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In brief, exploring Scooter Braun’s much-publicized feud with Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift released her first six albums under the label of Big Machine Records. However, after her contract expired, she signed a new deal with Republic Records in November 2018. Meanwhile, in June 2019, Scooter Braun purchased Big Machine Records from its founder, Scott Borchetta, and acquired rights to the masters of Taylor Swift’s albums, which she recorded with the company.

While Big Machine claimed that they tried to sell off the masters to Taylor Swift, she alleged that the company put forth “unfavorable” conditions, making it difficult for her to buy the rights to her albums. She added that the arrival of Scooter made things worse and called him an “incessant, manipulative bully" who was stripping her of her "life's work."

Later, upon Kelly Clarkson's advice, the songstress decided to re-record her albums. However, in November 2019, she announced via a Tumblr post that Braun and Borchetta were making it difficult for her to do so. She claimed they tried to prevent her from performing her old songs during the 2019 American Music Awards, citing that a medley would make it similar to a studio re-recording.

In the same post, she also accused the former SB Projects CEO of trying to stop the use of her old songs in a Netflix documentary based on her life and career. The multiple-time Grammy winner also sought help from her fans to “resolve” the situation, calling it her “worst-case scenario.”

Meanwhile, Big Machine Records issued a social media statement of its own, calling Swift’s allegations “false” and the “narrative” she created non-existent. It requested a private conversation to “sort out” the issues. The dispute worsened when Taylor’s spokesperson claimed that Big Machine owed her $7.9 million in unpaid royalties.

While Taylor Swift later performed at the 2019 AMAs, Scooter Braun broke his silence on the matter, calling it a “miscommunication,” in a since-removed Instagram post. In it, he also claimed that Swifties were threatening the lives of his kids.

Subsequently, in April 2020, the Karma hitmaker fuelled the feud when she alleged that Big Machine Records planned to release a live album from one of her old recorded performances, saying she had “not approved” it.

In November, amid the ongoing, long-drawn, and much-publicized beef, Braun sold the masters of Swift’s first six albums to an investment fund for $300 million. She confirmed via social media that she was not a part of this deal and announced official plans to re-record all her past albums.

Since then, the Eras Tour headliner has kept her promise and re-recorded her past albums, which she also used to throw shade at Scooter Braun and everyone associated with the Big Machine Records dispute.

As for the RBMG co-founder, reports emerged in mid-2023 that he had started to lose clients, including Ariana Grande and Devi Lovato. In the wake of this, Scooter Braun resigned from his career as a record executive and music manager earlier this year.