While some may be shocked by the news of Sydney Sweeney’s romance with one of Hollywood’s most polarising figures, music mogul Scooter Braun, many aren’t exactly surprised.
If the name Scooter sounds familiar, chances are you heard it from Taylor Swift. Braun was the former owner of her original recordings, which she re-purchased this year. Prior to that, Swift had accused Braun of bullying her, refusing to sell her back her masters, and for exercising undue control over her music. This, of course, led Taylor to famously re-record four of her albums.
Then, in 2023, Braun faced a public mass exodus of high-profile clients including Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Demi Lovato, Idina Menzel and J Balvin. Rumours of behind-the-scenes tensions and fractured relationships only fuelled the narrative, cementing his reputation as one of Hollywood’s most divisive figures.
Meanwhile, Sydney Sweeney has endured her own share of public scrutiny this year. Attending the wedding of Jeff Bezos, registering as a republican during the last election, and releasing the American Eagle jeans campaign that was slammed with allegations of a white supremacy agenda, it has not been Sydney’s year.
Perhaps the disconnect lies between how audiences imagined her to be and who she really is. Her breakout roles in HBO juggernauts Euphoria and The White Lotus turned her into a Gen-Z symbol of progressive, left-leaning television. Offscreen, however, Sweeney has charted a very different course — one this new relationship with Braun seems to underscore.
And in a sea of Hollywood publicity couples, it appears Sydney isn’t using her love life as a reputation boost. Instead, she’s doubling down and doing exactly what we’ve come to expect from her. Here’s what we know about the relationship of Sydney and Scooter, thus far.
Is Sydney Sweeney Dating Scooter Braun?
According to PEOPLE, Sweeney, 27, and Braun, 44, are “casually hooking up”, with at least two sources confirming the rumours to the publication. “Everything is casual. She is living her life and working hard,” one source said.
The pair were most recently spotted having dinner at Jon & Vinny’s in Los Angeles on September 24. Pop culture account @deuxmoi shared a photo from the night, and the comment section wasted no time weighing in. “Good choices are chasing her but she’s too fast,” one user wrote, while another sighed, “Once again: they seem perfect for each other 🥴🙄.”
Both Sweeney and Braun were in attendance at the wedding of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ and Lauren Sanchez in Venice in June. This could be where the two met, however, neither has directly commented on the relationship.
Earlier this year, it was reported Sweeney called off her engagement to ex-fiance Jonathan Davino. She had previously drawn major curiosity for her PR faux-mance with her Anyone But You co-star, Glen Powell.
Meanwhile, Braun was previously married to health activist Yael Cohen, with whom he shares three children. The two divorced in 2022.
Who Is Scooter Braun?
Scooter Braun is a music executive and talent manager, who has previously worked with Justin Bieber, Demi Lovato and Ariana Grande. All of these artists have since ended their working relationships with Braun.
He is perhaps most famous for buying Taylor Swift’s masters from her former label Big Machine, starting a years-long battle with Taylor for the rights to her music. Writing on Tumblr in 2019, Taylor posted a picture of Braun, writing, “This is Scooter Braun bullying me on social media when I was at my lowest point. He’s about to own all the music I’ve ever made.” She went on to detail what she called “incessant, manipulative bullying” she received from him for years.
In 2020, Braun on-sold her masters to a different company, Shamrock Capital, for US $300 million.
Braun has always denied that he wouldn’t sell Taylor back her masters. In an interview with Variety, Braun said, “I regret and it makes me sad that Taylor had that reaction to the deal. … All of what happened has been very confusing and not based on anything factual. I don’t know what story she was told. I asked for her to sit down with me several times, but she refused. I offered to sell her the catalog back and went under NDA, but her team refused.” Swift has previously said that Braun always refused to quote a price, and also required her to sign an NDA that would “silence her forever”.
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