This is getting ugly.
Yesterday, it was announced that Dolly Parton’s estate fired her nephew earlier this month, Bryan Seaver, and his security companies from his longtime role of protecting the country music legend’s properties.
Seaver, as you may recall, was the one who announced Dolly’s death back on August 25:
According to a termination notice obtained by TMZ, Seaver was informed that he was being dismissed immediately, and replacement guards have already been brought in to protect Dolly’s home in Nashville, along with her museum, downtown Music City residence and warehouse.
As you can imagine, it doesn’t sound like the termination is sitting well with Seaver, who said he was “dismayed by the unexpected and, so far, unexplained” actions of Dolly’s longtime manager Danny Nozell and Pinnacle Bank, who is presumably serving as a trustee over her estate:
“We remain unshakably resolved to fulfill her final directive to protect her family, and we refuse to be intimidated by those whose actions we believe are being taken in bad faith and with the intent to profit from the life of someone who willingly gave so much.”
Seaver, the son of Dolly’s sister Cassie Parton, had served as Dolly’s head of security for over 20 years, and in the video announcing her passing he reflected on the weight of the responsibility given to him by Dolly to tell the world that she was gone:
“This video announcement is something Dolly asked of me years ago, before I fully absorbed it as a future reality. As her head of security, for more than two decades, a role my father Larry held before me. I have imagined the heaviness of this moment but haven’t truly felt it until now. It is an honor, an honor that is mixed with absolute pride and great sadness. But sadness lies with us, not with Dolly.”
When her husband, Carl Dean, passed away last year, his entire estate went to his wife, with instructions that it be distributed between their nieces and nephews in the event that Dolly passed away before him. While we don’t know what was in Dolly’s will, presumably it would be similar to her husband’s instructions.
Dolly’s estate is held by the DP Dean trust, named after the country singer and her late husband, and the notice of termination received by Seaver indicates that his “personal interest in the trust remains intact.”
You have to imagine Dolly would NOT be happy with how this is all playing out, and according to People, Dolly’s estate has filed a suit against Bryan Seaver, claiming he threatened to smear Parton’s legacy and made repeated violent threats toward her employees.
Today, She’s Alive, LLC (SAL), which Dolly created while she was alive to protect her legacy after her death, filed a lawsuit claiming Seaver became “emboldened” after his aunt’s death, which is what led to him being fired, and the trust was also granted a temporary restraining order against him.
The filling obtained by People says:
“Mr. Seaver began his campaign of threats, intimidation, and coercion a few weeks prior to Ms. Parton’s passing…. In writing, he vowed to ‘destroy the entire brand’ and also told her entertainment attorney: ‘I’m not an entertainment person. I’m a killer.'”
The claim also stated that Severe had threatened to “inflict reputational and economic harm” on his aunt’s brand in the weeks prior to her death, and he is also accused of “making threats of real-world violence” towards Dolly’s staff and others she worked closely.
The filing also stated:
“As the entity entrusted by Ms. Parton to protect and promote her life’s work for future generations, SAL must cultivate a safe work environment for employees, advisors, and partners, free from intimidation or hostility—particularly intimidation by an armed former security contractor. Without relief, Defendants’ calculated campaign will continue to inflict fear, to destabilize SAL’s operations, and to cause further irreparable harm.”
Text messages between Nozell and Seaver that were filed with the case show the singer’s nephew vowing to “set up a podcast dedicated to ruining Dolly’s brand partnerships” if he doesn’t get paid, just days after his aunt’s death.
In a statement to TMZ, Seaver says that he stands by most of his comments and claims the text messages were taken out of context:
“I am a career soldier and military contractor and do conduct arms deals for foreign governments. I am a security professional and I am a killer.
However, nothing in this lawsuit were threats and most of the comments I stand by.
I was talking frankly in a private way with Danny who I thought was my friend and he fancies himself a gangster. A lot of these messages are two guys having rage talk and crying on the phone together while we were grieving.”
Interestingly, Bryan Seaver’s sister, Rebecca, is the executive director of her new Life of Many Colors Museum.
Whether you’re a famous family or not, it’s unfortunately pretty normal for there to be family drama in the wake of a death, but it seems like this is getting really ugly, and surely, her family fighting and things going bad like this is not at all what Dolly would have wanted, and it’s a real shame.
I guess we’ll see how this all continues to play out, but of course, you would hope that this isn’t true and Seaver didn’t say or do all of those alleged things in the filing, because if he did, that’s a disgusting disservice to the extraordinary life and legacy his aunt left behind.
