Did Taylor Swift just make this a cruel summer for Scooter Braun? Some Swifties think so after the 34-year-old “Karma” hitmaker performed a diss mashup at her Eras Tour stop in Cardiff — the same day as Scooter’s 43rd birthday and shortly after he announced his retirement from music management.
During her surprise set, Taylor performed her tracks “I Forgot That You Existed” and “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things.” As soon as she belted out the lyric, “Cause forgiveness is a nice thing to do,” Taylor threw her hands up in the air as the audience laughed in response.
Social media commenters quickly reacted to the on-stage moment, with many pointing out that the sly moment came at an interesting time.
“I FORGOT THAT YOU EXISTED X THIS IS WHY WE CANT HAVE NICE THINGS RIGHT AFTER SCOOTER BRAUN ANNOUNCED HIS RETIREMENT, TAYLOR SWIFT WILL NEVER NOT BE FUNNY,” one X user tweeted.
#TaylorSwift lost it laughing during surprise song “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things” at the #TheErasTour in Wales. 😅🤣 Fans pointed out that she made the song selection on Scooter Braun’s birthday. 😏
🎥: shilohchristiethepomsky/TMX#erastour #CardiffTSTheErasTour pic.twitter.com/uZmINmW3Y7
— ExtraTV (@extratv) June 19, 2024
On Monday, June 17, Scooter announced his retirement from music management after more than 20 years of working in the business.
“After 23 years, this chapter as a music manager has come to an end,” he wrote in his statement. “23 years ago, a 19 year old kid started managing an artist named Cato in Atlanta, GA and my journey began. Along the way I have had so many experiences I could never have dreamt of,” he said. “So for my entire adult life I played the role of an artist manager on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. And for 20 years I loved it. It’s all I had known. But as my children got older, and my personal Iife took some hits, I came to the realization that my kids were 3 superstars I wasn’t willing to lose. The sacrifices I was once willing to make I could no longer justify.”
Toward the end of his announcement, Scooter admitted he “never saw how this chapter would end” and didn’t even see it happening. However, he noted that he “will cherish every moment of it.”
As fans recall, Scooter and Taylor had a public falling out in 2019. After Scooter’s company, Ithaca Holdings, acquired Big Machine Label Group, he became the owner of Taylor’s music. The “Fearless” artist slammed Scooter for allegedly bullying her for years and condemned the business acquisition. She subsequently re-recorded her albums, calling each re-recorded track “Taylor’s Version.”