Taylor Swift‘s battle with Big Machine has spilled into the political arena.
Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren retweeted Swift’s Thursday message about her former record label preventing her from performing her old hits at the American Music Awards, adding that Swift is “one of many whose work as been threatened by a private equity firm.”
“They’re gobbling up more and more of our economy, costing jobs and crushing entire industries,” she continued. “It’s time to rein in private equity firms — and I’ve got a plan for that.”
Unfortunately, @TaylorSwift13 is one of many whose work has been threatened by a private equity firm. They're gobbling up more and more of our economy, costing jobs and crushing entire industries. It's time to rein in private equity firms—and I've got a plan for that. https://t.co/r2UD4CT1Ba
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) November 16, 2019
Swift’s initial post alleges that Scooter Braun and Scott Borchetta were essentially holding access to her older music hostage, telling her that if she wants to be able to perform the music at the AMAs, as well as use it in a three-years-in-the-making Netflix documentary, she would have to promise not to re-record the music and cease speaking poorly about them in public. Big Machine has denied her allegations.
New York representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has endorsed Bernie Sanders for the Democratic presidential nomination, posted a statement similar to Warren’s on Friday, writing that private equity firms’ “leveraged buyouts have destroyed the lives of retail workers across the country, scrapping 1+ million jobs.”
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Private equity groups’ predatory practices actively hurt millions of Americans.
Their leveraged buyouts have destroyed the lives of retail workers across the country, scrapping 1+ million jobs. Now they’re holding @taylorswift13’s own music hostage.
They need to be reigned in. https://t.co/mSVeH718Hn
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 15, 2019
The private equity firm in question here is Carlyle, which helped back Braun’s purchase of Big Machine and owns a minority stake in the company. For a deep dive into the legalities behind the Swift vs. Big Machine kerfuffle along with the relationships at play, click here.