Taylor Swift’s dad escapes charges over alleged assault with paparazzi

Taylor Swift’s father has escaped charges after being accused of assaulting a paparazzo.

The incident allegedly took place in Sydney on February 27, and police began investigating Taylor’s father Scott Kingsley Swift after a complaint was made by paparazzo Ben McDonald regarding an alleged assault.

According to McDonald, he was “just out on the job chasing Taylor” as she “got off a super-yacht at Neutral Bay and walked up the wharf with an umbrella over her head”. He added that she had “a couple of security [guards] around her,” and that they “sort of pushed us around with the umbrellas.”

He continued, alleging that Swift’s “dad decided to add to the mix and throw a punch in”, leaving him sore but uninjured. “It was a shock… There was no need for it, the security had it under control,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald. “I’ll leave it in the police’s hands now.”

At the time, a spokeswoman for the pop icon told Daily Mail Australia the photographers were being ‘aggressive’, although McDonald later refuted the claims as “utter rubbish”.

Now, it has been confirmed that following the investigation into the alleged incident – carried out by North Shore Police Command – no further action has been taken.

 Taylor Swift performs onstage during "Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour" at Allianz Parque on November 24, 2023 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Taylor Swift performs onstage during “Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour” at Allianz Parque on November 24, 2023 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. (Photo by Buda Mendes/TAS23/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management )

Swift was in the Australian city as part of her ongoing ‘Eras’ world tour – which has been confirmed as being the first tour to gross over $1billion.

She wrapped up the Australian leg of her ‘Eras’ tour in Sydney on February 26, and the shows saw her perform in Melbourne as well, where she played to her largest audience ever.

During the performance at Accor Stadium in Sydney, she was joined by special guest Sabrina Carpenter for a mash-up of ‘White Horse’ and ‘Coney Island’.

Since then, she has performed six shows at Singapore’s National Stadium between March 2-9 –  the only Southeast Asian location on the Asia leg of her tour.

Swift is due to resume with the European leg of the monumental tour in May, kicking off with a show at LA Défense Arena in Paris, where she’ll be supported by Paramore. In the meantime, Swift has a brand new album, ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ coming out on April 19, which she announced at the Grammys earlier this year.

The post Taylor Swift’s dad escapes charges over alleged assault with paparazzi appeared first on NME.