The drama over Taylor Swift’s decision to bail on a surprise performance at the Grammys is intertwined with her all-out war with Scooter Braun, Page Six has learned.
Last week, we reported that Swift was planning to perform her feminist anthem “The Man” at Sunday’s awards show. But she decided not to perform, after a former executive alleged that there had been serious sexual misconduct inside the Recording Academy, which runs the Grammys.
One of the allegations that caused Swift to not perform was made against the Recording Academy’s general counsel, Joel Katz.
In fact, we’re told that Katz drafted the legal papers that Swift claims have prevented her from performing her own songs live. Big Machine disputed those claims and said, “At no point did we say Taylor could not perform on the AMAs or block her Netflix special. In fact, we do not have the right to keep her from performing live anywhere.”
At the time, Swift called Braun an “incessant, manipulative bully.”
“[Katz] is at the forefront of sexual-harassment allegations,” says a music insider. “There is no way she was going to support that. Taylor is about supporting women.”
Katz negotiated the sale of Swift’s music catalog and of her former record label, Big Machine Label Group, to Braun in June.
Ousted Recording Academy CEO Deborah Dugan mentioned Katz in a legal filing she submitted last week, claiming he had sexually harassed her and attempted to kiss her at a dinner. Katz has denied the incident.
Meanwhile, Grammys producer Ken Ehrlich confirmed in a new interview with Variety that Swift was interested in performing at the show. “She had called us and said, ‘I really want to do the show’ … One of her representatives called and said, specifically, that she wanted to do the show for me. And then it was not confirmed,” he said. “She was never booked. I had her in a rundown. There was a placeholder if it did confirm. But she was never confirmed.” Ehrlich added he wasn’t allowed to say why she didn’t confirm, “but I understood her reasoning, let’s just say that.” Swift’s rep did not comment.