Politicians are getting involved in Taylor Swift’s public battle with her former label, Big Machine Group.
The singer has claimed that she is being blocked from her back catalogue at the American Music Awards this month by label owner Scooter Braun and president Scott Borchetta.
Big Machine issued a statement claiming no one had told Swift she could not perform at the event, to which a spokesperson responded by insisting they had “flatly denied the request for both American Music Awards and Netflix” to sing material from six of her seven albums.
US senator Elizabeth Warren said Swift was “one of many” victims of a private equity firm, which she said were “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,” she added.
US rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shared a similar message on Twitter: “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,” she wrote.
“Now they’re holding @taylorswift13’s own music hostage,” she tweeted. “They need to be reigned in.”
A number of celebrities, including singers Halsey, Lily Allen and Selena Gomez, have also spoken out in support of Swift.
“Not only are we looking at an awful business move ... but this is just mean. This is punishment,” Halsey wrote. “This is hoping to silence her from speaking about things by dangling this over her head.”
Gomez, Swift’s long-time best friend, also commented in a lengthy post to her Instagram Story, saying her heart is “so heavy right now”.
“It makes me sick and extremely angry,” she said. “It's greed, manipulation and power. You've robbed and crushed one of our best song writers of our time an opportunity to celebrate all of her music with fans and the world.”
Swift is being presented with the Artist of the Decade award at the AMAs on 25 November.
