American pop singer Taylor Swift spoke out against Hungarian-born billionaire George Soros and the Carlyle Group for helping manager Scooter Braun acquire the rights for her first six albums without even bothering to contact her.
“None of these investors have ever bothered to contact me or my team directly to perform their due diligence on their investment,” Swift said. “They didn’t ask how I might feel about the owner of my art, the music I wrote, the photos of me, my handwriting, my album designs. Scooter never contacted me or my team to discuss it prior to the sale or even before it was announced.”
Swift was speaking at the Billboard Women in Music Awards to address a series of issues, including her ongoing beef with Scooter Braun.
In a video posted to Twitter, Swift can be seen calling out George Soros for funding the deal.
Last night Taylor Swift revealed in her Billboard “Woman of The Decade” speech that billionaire Dem donor George Soros funded the deal to buy the rights to her music. pic.twitter.com/RoHe8abHv6
— Alex Clark ??? (@yoalexrapz) December 13, 2019
Swift was presented the first-ever “Woman of the Decade Honor” during the 14th annual event on Thursday night on the eve of her 30th birthday. Her acceptance speech lasted more than 15 minutes. In it, she spoke out against institutionalized sexism throughout her career, unfair business practices and Braun, who bought her master recordings without her knowledge.
The founders of Braun’s Ithaca Holdings include George Soros.
“The definition of the toxic male privilege in our industry is people saying, ‘But he’s always been nice to me,’ when I’m raising valid concerns about artists owning their rights to own their music,” Swift said. “Of course he’s nice to you. If you’re in this room, you have something that he needs.”
Title image: Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at the Billboard Women in Music Awards (Youtube capture)
