Photographer who accused Taylor Swift’s father of assaulting him says he’s never been ‘punched in the chops, particularly by the talent’s dad’

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Photographer who accused Taylor Swift’s father of assaulting him says he’s never been ‘punched in the chops, particularly by the talent’s dad’
Eammon Jacobs Feb 27, 2024, 9:16 AM ET
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Taylor Swift at the Accor Stadium in Sydney, Australia, and with her father Scott Swift watching the Kansas City Chiefs and New England Patriots in Foxboro, Massachusetts.

Don Arnold/TAS24/Getty Images/Kathryn Riley/Getty Images
Photographer Ben McDonald accused Taylor Swift’s dad of punching him in Sydney, Australia.
McDonald was photographing the singer as she left a yacht on Tuesday when the alleged incident happened.
He said he’s never been “punched in the chops, particularly by the talent’s dad.”
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A photographer accused Taylor Swift’s dad, Scott Swift, of punching him as he tried to take her photo in Australia in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

The singer was met by photographers in Sydney as she left a superyacht in Neutral Bay Wharf following her final show of the Eras Tour Australian leg.

“Police have been told a 71-year-old man allegedly assaulted a 51-year-old man at Neutral Bay Wharf about 2.30am before leaving the location,” a New South Wales Police spokesperson told Business Insider. “The younger man reported the incident and inquiries are now underway by officers attached to North Shore Police Area Command.”

A spokesperson for Swift told Business Insider: “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 photographer, Ben McDonald, called the claims “utter rubbish” in a statement to Daily Mail Australia.

“This is the sort of bullshit I might expect. Which female was that? The only one there was Taylor,” he said.

“In 23 years, I haven’t been assaulted and punched in the chops, particularly by the talent’s dad,” McDonald told the Associated Press.

He alleged in the interview that Swift’s security team initiated the incident by shoving umbrellas at his camera, adding that he didn’t know who punched him at first.