ada. "I had talked to Khloe and she asked me what was going on, is everything fine. And in my head of trying to forget that part of the story, I was just like, 'You know, no, he was chilling, everything was OK. Like, there were girls there but he wasn't all over the girls.' I was honest about being there, but I wasn't honest about the actions that had taken place."
Khloe Kardashian and her family were disgusted by Jordyn Woods' interview, particularly when she said she wasn't the reason the reality TV star and Tristan Thompson had split. "I know I'm not the reason that Tristan and Khloe are not together," Jordyn said. Afterward, Khloe lashed out.  she tweeted. "If you're going to try and save yourself by going public, INSTEAD OF CALLING ME PRIVATELY TO APOLOGIZE FIRST, at least be HONEST about your story. BTW, You ARE the reason my family broke up!" She later added, "Tristan is equally to blame but Tristan is the father of my child. Regardless of what he does to me I won't do that to my daughter. He has been addressing this situation PRIVATELY. If Tristan were to lie publicly about what conspired, then yes I would address him publicly as well." After some of the dust settled, Khloe softened on Jordyn and blamed Tristan. "This has been an awful week & I know everyone is sick of hearing about it all (as am I). I'm a rollercoaster of emotions & have said things I shouldn't have. Honestly, Tristan cheating on me & humiliating me, wasn't such a shock as the first time," she wrote. "What's been harder & more painful is being hurt by someone so close to me. Someone whom I love & treat like a little sister. But Jordyn is not to be blamed for the breakup of my family. This was Tristan's fault." Regardless, she also said she doesn't "hate" her ex for his actions though as the year went on, Khloe resisted Tristan's attempts to reconcile.

The initial headlines were awful. In January, "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett claimed he was attacked by two men late at night on a Chicago street near his apartment that it was being investigated as a hate crime. He said that two men wearing ski masks beat him around 2 a.m., placed a noose around his neck and poured bleach on him during the attack, which reports revealed came eight days after the actor received a disturbing racist and homophobic letter in the mail. However, police weren't totally buying his story.
On Feb. 21, Jussie Smollett was arrested after turning himself into police, who claimed he'd staged the attack against himself with the help of two brothers he paid. The purpose, authorities claimed, was to further his career. The alleged attackers were cleared and Jussie, too, caught a heck of a break: On March 26, the criminal case against Jussie -- for allegedly lying to police about a racial and homophobic attack -- was dropped. He'd been facing 16 felonies and had pleaded not guilty. The decision was highly controversial, with Chicago's mayor and police superintendent (and many others) slamming it. The mayor hinted at corruption in the State's Attorney's Office, calling the decision to drop the charges a "whitewash of justice." The Chicago city government decided that Jussie owed the city six figures for the cost of its police work concerning his alleged attack and in April filed a lawsuit against him seeking to be reimbursed. The fallout took a toll on Jussie career: "Empire" creator Lee Daniels announced on June 4 that Jussie would not be returning for the FOX show's sixth and final season. Jussie maintained his innocence.
In August, a Chicago judge announced the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate how local prosecutors handled Jussie Smollett's case. If the special prosecutor deems it appropriate, he has the authority to file new charges. In other words, Jussie is still not out of the woods. The prosecutor, former U.S. Attorney Dan K. Webb, said his work would be pro bono and that he would charge the county only for out-of-pocket expenses.
Jussie Smollett went on the offensive on Nov. 19, filing a malicious prosecution counterclaim in federal court, insisting that the city of Chicago created a false narrative when it branded his alleged attack a hoax. That suggestion, he said, has had an enormous financial impact on him. Listed in the lawsuit, in addition to Chicago, are multiple Chicago Police Department officers and brothers Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo, two of Jussie's former friends who previously told police that the attack was faked. "As a proximate result of the wrongful conduct engaged in by Counterclaim-Defendants, Mr. Smollett has suffered and continues to suffer substantial economic damages as well as reputational harm, humiliation, mental anguish and extreme emotional distress in an amount according to proof at trial," the lawsuit said.
Taylor Swift called it her "worst case scenario." In late June, her Big Machine Label Group catalog was sold to a company owned by Scooter Braun, Justin Bieber's longtime manager, thus giving Scooter control of Taylor's master recordings from her 2006 self-titled debut through 2017's "Reputation." Taylor was livid. "For years I asked, pleaded for a chance to own my work. Instead I was given an opportunity to sign back up to Big Machine Records and 'earn' one album back at a time, one for every new one I turned in," Taylor, who is now signed to Republic Records and Universal Music Group, wrote on Tumblr. "I walked away because I knew once I signed that contract, [Big Machine CEO] Scott Borchetta would sell the label, thereby selling me and my future. I had to make the excruciating choice to leave behind my past. Music I wrote on my bedroom floor and videos I dreamed up and paid for from the money I earned playing in bars, then clubs, then arenas, then stadiums." Of Scooter, she said, "I learned about Scooter Braun's purchase of my masters as it was announced to the world. All I could think about was the incessant, manipulative bullying I've received at his hands for years." She added, "Now Scooter has stripped me of my life's work, that I wasn't given an opportunity to buy. Essentially, my musical legacy is about to lie in the hands of someone who tried to dismantle it."
Big Machine Label Group CEO Scott Borchetta responded with his own letter, disputing Taylor Swift's points and claiming she was informed of the sale prior to it going public. "Taylor had every chance in the world to own not just her master recordings, but every video, photograph, everything associated to her career. She chose to leave," he said. Taylor's rep shot back, explaining that the pop star found out about the sale from news articles. Scooter Braun finally responded to the drama on the "Wide Open" podcast. "It's hard when you get attacked and it's not based on any truth, but for that other person it may be based in truth but they don't have all the information," he said. "And that's why I am always open to communication and having a conversation with someone and saying, 'Maybe this was a misunderstanding and I am happy to have the conversation with you.' But not everybody is willing to do that and you can't go through life thinking you're going to be friends and everyone is going to like you."
While Taylor Swift's feud with music execs Scooter Braun and Scott Borchetta was in full swing, she released her seventh studio album, "Lover." It was widely praised by critics and debuted at No. 1 in six countries. While promoting the album, she said she was going to rerecord her masters so she can own them. "It's something that I'm very excited about doing because my contract says that starting November 2020, so next year, I can record albums one [to] five all over again. I'm very excited about it because I think that artists deserve to own their work. I just feel very passionately about that," she said on "Good Morning America" in August. The move is rare, but not unheard of.
Taylor Swift's beef with Scooter Braun and Scott Borchetta flared up again in November when she accused the men of blocking her from performing her own songs at the American Music Awards, where she was being honored as the artist of the decade. According to what Taylor posted on social media, the men "said that I'm not allowed to perform my old songs on television because they claim that would be re-recording my music before I'm allowed to next year." She added that they were also blocking her from using her own songs in an upcoming Netflix documentary. "Right now my performance at the AMA's, the Netflix documentary and any other recorded events I am planning to play until November of 2020 are a question mark," she said. However, Big Machine insisted that was "false information." In a statement, the label said, "At no point did we say Taylor could not perform on the AMAs or block her Netflix special. In fact, we do not have the right to keep her from performing live anywhere... Since Taylor's decision to leave Big Machine last fall, we have continued to honor all of her requests to license her catalog to third parties as she promotes her current record in which we do not financially participate." Yet Big Machine also later released another