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Taylor Swift‘s team has responded to photographer Ben McDonald‘s claim that her father, Scott Swift, 71, assaulted him during an outing after the leg of her Australian Eras Tour ended. The singer and her dad were walking at a ferry wharf in the suburb of Neutral Bay around 2.30am on Tuesday, when Ben approached them and the alleged incident took place. They had traveled from Homebush on a luxury superyacht called Quantum right before.
“Two individuals were aggressively pushing their way towards Taylor, grabbing at her security personnel, and threatening to throw a female staff member into the water,” a spokeswoman for Taylor told Daily Mail about the reason for the alleged incident.
Taylor and Scott enjoying a Kansas City Chiefs game in December. (Getty Images)
Ben, 51, who is the chief executive of Matrix Media Group, slammed Taylor’s team’s statement as “utter rubbish” and said the only female at the scene was Taylor. “This is the sort of bulls*** I might expect,” he told the outlet. “Which female was that? The only one there was Taylor.”
Ben also said the altercation was caught on camera and it allegedly didn’t show photographers acting aggressively. An investigation into the alleged incident has been started by the North Shore Police Command.
Taylor’s team’s statement about the incident comes shortly after Ben accused Scott of “charging” at him once he was off the superyacht with Taylor. He said he originally thought it was a security guard and was shocked when he realized it was allegedly Taylor’s dad.
Scott and Taylor at an event in 2015. (Getty Images)
“In 23 years of taking pictures, I have never seen anything like it,” he said. “She got off the boat, she walked towards security guards who were shoving umbrellas in our faces.” The footage from the alleged incident shows Taylor and Scott walking with a few others as they shield the singer’s face with an umbrella. Another umbrella appeared to be blocking the photographer right before there was movement and the camera jolted. Ben immediately went to the Rocks police station and reported the incident.
Taylor just finished the Australian leg of her Eras Tour, which included multiple shows in Melbourne and Sydney.
