Scooter Braun doesn't seem to realize that good guys never have to use the Good Guy defense

Early on Friday morning (or possibly very late on Thursday night), Scooter Braun, a music executive whose name has become irremediably associated with Taylor Swift’s, published a long open letter addressed to the pop star. In it, he responded to allegations voiced by Swift last week, when she accused Braun and another man of barring her from using her own music. Braun said that Swift’s accusations had resulted in death threats against him and his family, expressed the wish to resolve his ongoing dispute with Swift, and insisted that she was, in fact, allowed to use her own music (more on that later).

One thing is clear: death threats are terrifying, traumatising, and unacceptable. I have received them before. Friends of friends have, too, and seeing them in this woefully upsetting situation made my blood boil – as it should. Swift herself is well versed in the effects of this kind of toxic behaviour, having disclosed that she started carrying army-grade bandage dressings (for stab wounds or gunshots) because “a lot of stalkers show up to [her] house armed”.

The death threats, however, only make up for part of Braun’s missive. And if Braun’s letter teaches us anything, it’s that it’s possible to feel genuinely for someone going through something as distressing as death threats and disagree with them on just about everything they’ve chosen to convey.

Let’s begin at the beginning. In June 2019, Swift said she was “sad and grossed out” after Scooter Braun acquired her former label, Big Machine, with whom Swift released her first six albums (out of a total of seven, so, yes, her life’s work). She accused Braun of “incessant, manipulative bullying”, alleging it had gone on “for years”. Swift expressed her distress over being stripped of the music she “wrote on [her] bedroom floor and videos [she] dreamed up and paid for from the money I earned playing in bars, then clubs, then arenas, then stadiums”.

Things escalated again last week when Swift said on Twitter that she had been picked to receive the Artist of the Decade title at the American Music Awards. She alleged that Scooter Braun and Scott Borchetta, the founder of Big Machine, wouldn’t let her perform a medley of her own songs during the ceremony, and that she hadn’t been allowed to use her older music and performance footage in an upcoming documentary. In what was perhaps the most damning of her accusations, Swift alleged that she was told she would be granted permission to use her own music if she agreed not to re-record it (something she has said she intends to do as it would enable her to regain her rights) and if she stops talking about Braun and Borchetta in public.

In a series of tweets, Swift urged her fans to share their feelings about the situation with Braun and Borchetta and said that her attempts at a private resolution hadn’t been successful – meaning that going public was a last resort of sorts for her.

With his latest statement, Braun is not only responding to Swift’s allegations, which is his right, but he is also painting himself as the true victim here – a questionable position to say the least.

“I assume this was not your intention but it is important that you understand that your words carry a tremendous amount of weight," Braun writes in the second paragraph of his letter, with clear condescension, before adding that he is "thinking of [his] wife and children" (steering clear of saying that she should come meet his wife and call him a bedbug to his face, of course.)

But what follows is the real problem. Braun goes on to deploy what one might recognise as the Good Guy defense, alleging that Swift hasn’t deigned to communicate with him and that he wants nothing more than to find a happy resolution to their issues. “It almost feels as if you have no interest in ever resolving the conflict,” he writes, adding: “I’m right here, ready to speak directly and respectfully. But if you would prefer to make large public statements while refusing to work towards resolving things amicably then I just pray that nobody gets seriously hurt in the process.”

It seems like a reasonable assumption that Swift never intended for anyone to threaten Braun’s life or that of his loved ones. Yet, Braun – the same man who says he doesn’t want to “participate in a social media war” – is placing the blame solely on her. He is painting her as an angry woman who has launched a vendetta against a well-meaning man for no valid reason and will stop at nothing to make his life hell. We live in a misogynistic world, so it’s easy to see why it might be tempting to fall back on a tired cliché about hysterical, overreacting, manipulative women ruining good men. But it’s 2019 now, and let’s just say that the optics of doing so aren’t great.

A couple of other lines from Braun's letter similarly stand out. “The handful of times we have actually met I have always remembered them to be pleasant and respectful,” Braun says while expressing his surprise at Swift’s dislike over his involvement in the Big Machine deal. This is at best a different reading of a situation and at worst an attempt at gaslighting, and it reads like performative naivety. The bullying alleged by Swift isn’t the kind that would go on face-to-face, as if on the playground, but rather behind the scenes, where most "adult world" bullying actually happens.

Interestingly, Braun also says that Swift is allowed to perform her own music, casting public doubt over the singer's latest allegations. “As the world now knows you can and should perform any song you like at the AMAs,” he writes. “I have never and would never say otherwise.” OK, so, are we to believe that Swift… made this whole thing up for fun? That this is how she entertains herself? That she’s never heard of Netflix and is looking for a way to pass the time? I remain unconvinced. Notably, he does not say: "I have never and would never say that you can perform any song you like at the AMAs so long as you don't re-record your earlier material," which is the real issue here. He doesn't say, "Feel free to perform any of your songs at the AMAs with no strings attached".

It is so ironic that Swift’s music, which has revolved in so many ways around girlhood, womanhood, and toxic masculinity, is getting caught up in this mess. One thing remains for certain: good guys don’t turn the tables on the person who says they’ve been wronged. Good guys recognise when they’ve played a part in an unfair situation and work to rectify it. Great guys do that work quietly, without asking for kudos in public.

Good Guys, in fact, don’t use the Good Guy defense. They don’t need it.