Hailey Baldwin, 22, isn’t afraid to show off her rock hard abs, and she was at it once again while out and about with hubby, Justin Bieber, 25, and another pal in Los Angeles on July 2. Hailey rocked a red bandeau bikini top with nothing covering it up for the stroll. She paired the skimpy bathing suit with a pair of oversized jean shorts, along with slides and her hair in a messy bun. Meanwhile, Justin covered up a bit more in a baggy white t-shirt and cut-off khaki shorts. The pair seemed unbothered by the latest drama they’ve been caught in the middle of recently.
It all started on June 30, when news broke that Scooter Braun, Justin’s longtime manager, had acquired Taylor Swift’s old label, Big Machine Group, from Scott Borchetta for $300 million. Taylor took to Tumblr to reveal her frustration over the deal — she was upset that Scooter, who she labeled as a ‘bully,’ would now have the rights to the masters that she left behind when she left Big Machine in 2018. Taylor explained that Scott had given her a chance to earn the masters back herself, but it came with a negotiation that she wasn’t willing to make: She would have to record six new albums on the Big Machine label in order to earn back the rights to each of the previous albums she had released. Unlike Scooter, Taylor was never given the opportunity to simply buy the masters outright, according to her lawyer.
Taylor posted about the situation on Tumblr in order to expose an issue she’s seen come to light in the music industry, regarding how hard it is for artists to own the rights to their own work. In her post, she explained that when she made the decision to leave Big Machine, she knew Scott would sell her masters one day, but she didn’t expect it to be to Scooter, because she claimed Scott knew how she felt about him.
Along with her post, the 29-year-old shared a photo that Justin posted to Instagram in 2016, which showed him FaceTiming with Scooter and another one of Scooter’s clients, Kanye West. At the time, Justin had captioned the photo, “Taylor Swift what up.” Taylor said that the taunting image was Scooter’s way of “bullying [her] online” after Kim Kardashian “orchestrated an illegally recorded snippet of a phone call [between Taylor and Kanye] to be leaked” on the Internet. She also slammed Scooter for allowing Kanye to feature a naked image of her in his music video for “Famous.”
Since Justin’s Instagram was used in Taylor’s post, he decided to weigh in on the feud himself and stand up for Scooter. At first, his message seemed like an apology — he took full blame for posting the “insensitive” message and FaceTime screen shot — but in the end, it was simply a way to defend Scooter and accuse Taylor of “crossing the line” and “trying to get sympathy.” Hailey showed her support for Justin by commenting on his post, “gentleman,” and she’s clearly continued to stand by him in the days since.