Not Sure If You’ve Heard But Karma Is That Girl, Like
What's going on with Scooter Braun?
While karma was taking all your friends to the summit (presumably a Waystar Roy Co. shareholders meeting, or something), seemingly every single high profile Scooter Braun client has fled the infamous-notorious-sometimes villainous music manager’s SB Projects. On Thursday, Puck’s Matt Belloni reported perhaps the highest profile divorce of the summer so far: Justin Bieber was splitting up with Braun, who’d managed the musician since discovering him on YouTube when Bieber was 13. “Bieber and the manager who built his empire (and his ridiculous public persona) on Bieber’s talents haven’t spoken in months, per multiple sources. It’s tough because Bieber signed a new management deal right before Braun sold his Ithaca Holdings to South Korean giant HYPE in 2021, and Bieber still has time left on that. So neither side is confirming a split, but I’m told they’re headed separate ways, and their lawyers are involved.” (There’s a longer list of pink slips from Bieber, Puck reported, including firing his agency and attorney, and working with Lou Taylor, an architect of Britney Spears conservatorship.)
The Bieber report was almost immediately spun to ET in a, let’s say, web of opacity. "Justin and Scooter are still working together,” “multiple sources” told the site. “Justin is not taking meetings to look for new management. The two recently worked on something together." But several more defections followed: Ariana Grande, Demi Lovato, and Idina Menzel all either confirmed or did not deny that they’re no longer managed by Braun. (Unnamed sources confirmed the Grande news to Billboard; CNN got the Menzel news.)
The SB Projects mass “exodus” — a source told Variety that everyone is staying at SB Projects, but Braun will no longer be their manager — doesn’t seem like a coincidence.
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