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Justin Bieber and former music manager Scooter Braun’s once-tight bond allegedly hit a “breaking point” after the singer’s shortened Justice World Tour.
Bieber, 31, performed a handful of concerts in 2022 before abruptly canceling the remaining dates for medical reasons. He was diagnosed with Ramsay Hunt Syndrome that same year.
“Scooter’s camp has told us that he just thinks Justin wanted to go home,” TMZ executive producer Don Nash claimed in the network’s TMZ Investigates: What Happened to Justin Bieber? documentary that aired on Fox and is currently streaming on Hulu. “He was tired, he wanted to spend more time with [his wife], Hailey [Bieber], he wanted to go on vacation, and he wanted to live his life without going on tour.”
Sources close to Justin, however, told the outlet that the singer was “set up for failure” from the start of the production. The TMZ team also alleged that tour promoter AEG paid Justin a $40 million advance to perform his biggest hits. (Neither Justin nor Braun, 43, has addressed the documentary’s claims or spoken publicly about why they parted ways. Us Weekly has reached out for comment.)
“When Justin cancels the tour, AEG says, ‘Hey, you owe us $24 million,’” Harvey Levin said in the doc. “Justin’s like, ‘I don’t have the money.’ And so, Scooter’s company, HYBE, they say, ‘Look, we’ll assume this debt and pay it off for you, Justin.’”
Levin further claimed that Justin “signed a note,” agreeing to repay Braun $24 million over a 10-year period.
“He makes one payment, and this is where the conflict starts,” Levin said. “We’re told from Scooter’s side that Justin’s people called and said, ‘He doesn’t have the money anymore,’ and he’s never paid another payment.”
Levin also alleged that Justin’s business manager “did some digging” and found that Braun was “way overpaying commissions.” Braun then ordered an internal audit of HYBE, which reportedly discovered that the “Peaches” singer actually owes Braun $1 million. When Justin rebuffed the claims, Braun hired external firm Price Waterhouse to complete its own audit that revealed Justin owed $8 million.
TMZ claimed that Justin wasn’t pleased with the external audit and subsequently conducted his own investigation. The findings have not been publicly shared.
“By the way, if Justin had finished that tour, he would have made $90 million,” Nash added in the doc.
Braun was the manager credited with discovering Justin on YouTube back in the early 2000s. Us Weekly confirmed in August 2023 that Justin “officially let [Braun] go.”
According to the insider, Hailey, 28, “led the charge that led Justin to leave him for another manager.”
A second source, meanwhile, told Us that same month that Justin and Braun didn’t have any “bad blood.”
“Scooter created Justin for who he is. It’s just a time and place to move on,” the second insider said at the time. “Scooter used to be hands-on. He was doing [everything] behind the scenes for all his clients. He’s lost sight of the drive. It was noticeable.”
TMZ Investigates: What Happened to Justin Bieber? is currently streaming on Hulu.
