The Grammy winner's father Scott Swift is under investigation after a paparazzo claims that the 71-year-old attacked him at Neutral Bay Wharf following her last concert in Sydney.
- Feb 27, 2024
AceShowbiz - Just when Taylor Swift has wrapped the Australian leg of her "Eras Tour", her father is embroiled in a legal problem in the country. Scott Swift is currently under investigation after an Australian photographer reported him for an alleged assault.
The NSW Police Force has confirmed that 51-year-old Ben McDonald claimed 71-year-old Scott attacked him at a ferry wharf in Sydney's North Shore hours after her latest performance. The alleged altercation reportedly took place at Neutral Bay Wharf on early Tuesday morning, February 27 at 2:30 A.M. local time.
The paparazzo told the Daily Mail that Scott and his daughter Taylor had been partying out when the alleged incident occurred. He claimed the former stockbroker "charged" at him after the father-daughter duo got off a luxury superyacht called Quantum for the night.
"She got off the boat, she walked towards security guards who were shoving umbrellas in our faces, and then he charged," Ben told the U.K. news outlet, claiming that Scott struck him on the left side of the face, leaving him with "very sore chops."
The paparazzo insisted that he didn't do anything to provoke Scott. "He probably decided he needed to defend his daughter, for some reason," he said. "In 23 years I have never seen anything like it." Police confirmed that Ben did not require medical treatment.
Responding to the allegations, a spokesperson for Taylor has seemingly put the blame on the "aggressive" paparazzo. "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," the rep said in a statement on Monday, February 26.
However, Ben has slammed the statement as "utter rubbish." The chief executive of Matrix Media Group said, "This is the sort of bulls**t I might expect," claiming that the only woman at the scene was Taylor.
The alleged altercation was caught on camera. In photos obtained from the outing, Taylor was seen walking off a dock with a black umbrella covering her from the waist up. Scott, who did not shield himself, was walking by his daughter's side and holding out his arm to guide her along.
They were joined by at least two security guards, one of which pointed a flashlight towards the waiting paparazzi. In footage circulating online, once Scott and Taylor reached their waiting car, a security guard asked the photos to "step away from the vehicle."
Then the camera jolted as two people seemingly bumped into one another when the cameraman neared the open car door. "Who was that dude?" the man behind the camera could be heard saying as he stumbled to the ground.
Taylor has now departed Australia. The pop superstar and her crew left The Crown Hotel at Barangaroo in black SUVs just before 11 A.M. on Tuesday. She then boarded her private jet. Her next show is in Singapore on March 2.
