An Australian photographer who claims Taylor Swift’s father Scott assaulted him early Tuesday denies he did anything to provoke the 71-year-old.
“There was no situation where we were aggressive,” Ben McDonald, 52, told Fox News Digital of the alleged altercation. “You know, I was not aggressive. They just didn’t call for it, you know what I mean?”
He added, “I think that the security detail were annoyed by the fact that we discovered where they were getting her off” their yacht.
Earlier, Swift’s spokesperson told Fox News Digital, “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.”
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Taylor Swift’s dad is accused of assaulting a photographer in Australia. (Don Arnold/TAS24/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management/Larry Busacca/ACM2015/Getty Images for dcp)
McDonald told Fox News Digital the statement is “what I would expect from them trying to issue a statement. I mean, they come from a very powerful place. I mean, you’ve got the most recognizable face on the face of the earth, essentially, and the, the greatest, you know, she’s been, compared to the Beatles and certainly the… selling out concerts for four consecutive ones in Sydney would indicate that she’s absolutely bloody huge.”
McDonald said he didn’t know who Scott Swift was until after the alleged incident.
McDonald said in another video shot by a stringer, Scott gives the paparazzi “the finger” while walking down the jetty holding hands with the 34-year-old.
Taylor Swift with her parents in 2013. (Rick Diamond/ACMA2013/Getty Images for ACM)
He said at first he thought the man holding hands with the “Cruel Summer” singer was a security guard, but, “I thought, hold on, that’s weird. You wouldn’t have security holding hands like that. And, you know, we figured out that that was her father. So I think they were annoyed by the fact that we discovered where it was.”
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He said that Swift’s rep “said, you know, we’re being aggressive and intimidating, this sort of thing;” however, “we don’t need to operate like that. We’ve never operated like that. Things are very calm in Sydney. Like, we don’t need to have aggressive situations.”
WATCH: Taylor Swift’s dad accused of attacking photographer in Australia
McDonald noted that situations generally only become heated with “inexperienced” security guards “or security, they’ve got their back up because they were annoyed about something.”
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Swift’s team was using umbrellas to shield the pop star from photographers, he said. “Here’s what they do this time around is they shoved it at us, you know, like, they’re shoving the umbrella at us,” McDonald explained.
“I couldn’t see in front of me. I didn’t know what was going on behind the umbrella. At one point, I tried to move the umbrella away from my face. It was right up in my face. I couldn’t see. And then the next thing you know, they shoved harder, and then the next, her father has taken, charged at me and punched me in the face,” he alleged.
Taylor Swift is in Australia for a stop on her “Eras” tour. (Scott Eisen/TAS23/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management)
After the alleged assault there was an “exchange of words,” he said. “So then they got in the car and took off, and then I went into the cop shop and reported it.”
The New South Wales police department confirmed that an investigation has been launched into Scott.
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Nicole Kidman won a court battle against McDonald and another photographer in 2005 and got a restraining order against him after a listening device was found on her property in Sydney, according to People magazine.
At the time, a lawyer for McDonald issued a statement, according to The Telegraph via Business Insider.
“He denies emphatically he has anything to do with planting any listening device,” it read.
