Sept. 23, 2026
“I’m A Killer” Dolly Parton Nephew Accused Of Threatening To Destroy Dolly’s Legacy
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RSS Feed A disturbing family feud has erupted following the death of Dolly Parton. Parton’s longtime manager has now filed for a temporary restraining order against the late singer's nephew, Bryan Seaver, the man she chose to announce her death to the world just a few weeks ago. Seaver was fired from his decades-long held position as head of security after Parton’s manager claims Seaver began "invoking his self-proclaimed military-contractor experience, access to weapons, and capacity for violence" to extort money from the estate. Seaver hasn’t denied the threats, but claims they’ve been taken out of context.
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00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hey there, folks. It is Wednesday, September 23rd, and this is just a damn shame. A fight has erupted between some of Dolly Parton's family members and her estate, and there are accusations of extortion and threats to destroy Dolly's brand. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ Rose. It's hard to avoid the phrase, she must be rolling over. in her freaking grave.
00:00:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is awful. And in terms of Dolly Parton's legacy, we've talked so much about how she has just been the face of generosity and love, bridging folks together who wouldn't be able to unite on one thing except for that they all love Dolly Parton. So to think that in her passing, the people who she held closest to her, surrounded her, are now fighting between one another. And the texts that have come out in this now legal action taking place, this is actually beyond just a family feud. This is potentially violent. This is beyond ugly. And this could end up being criminal.
00:01:21
Speaker 1: We'll see what direction this goes and robes its... It's also of note, right? If we had told this story, if we'd heard all this and said her nephew is in a battle with her estate, your question would be, okay, who is this nephew and what relation did he have to her? And then, Robe, this is why it's so significant. He is the guy who told the world about her death. He played very prominently, Robe, in her life and in her death.
00:01:49
Speaker 2: She chose him. She chose him while she was still alive to be the person. And think about the significance of that, to be the face of her announcement. That is a big deal. And that shows you just how much she trusted him, just how much she loved him, that she would give him this honor and this duty.
00:02:10
Speaker 1: Yeah, and Rose, we have seen and we've learned afterwards, she put a lot of stuff in place to make sure everybody knew exactly what to do upon her death. She's made songs that are supposed to be released in decades. She put everything in order. I want to be dressed in this. I want this video. Robe, she is very particular. So we are led to believe that if she chose him, she knew what the hell she was doing, and he was a very big deal to her. So that's the guy we're talking about, folks, in the middle of this. Robe didn't know his name ahead of time, but Brian... And he had been with her, not just with her robes, close by her for decades.
00:02:50
Speaker 2: Head of her security. I mean, you don't get closer than that. He was responsible for protecting her in every way. And he was her nephew, the son of her younger sister, Cassie, I believe. And yeah, served as head of her security for more than 20 years. And he inherited that position from his own father.
00:03:14
Speaker 1: So there you go. Robes, this guy was important to her.
00:03:17
Speaker 2: He ran deep.
00:03:18
Speaker 1: Very, very important. So why is that guy now in a nasty fight with her estate that includes restraining orders? So who is he fighting? Going to the point of just how much she set things up in her death, she set up a new trust. That specific trust that is meant to do nothing but handle her business and her legacy and her brand moving forward. And she named it She's Alive LLC.
00:03:49
Speaker 2: I love that.
00:03:50
Speaker 1: Dolly Parton was on top of everything having to do with her death.
00:03:53
Speaker 2: Even a wink and a nod and a ha-ha-ha to the name of her company posthumously created, or at least to continue on after her death to name it She's Alive.
00:04:05
Speaker 1: So that group, again, she died August 25th. Within three weeks of her death, She's Alive, or her estate at the time, sent him a termination letter. He said it came out of nowhere, but Robes, TMZ was the one that got their hands on it. And the excerpts here are, holy hell, you wonder what was going on. But this is the letter he got. And Robes, it's important to read. I know it's a little bit here, but it's important to read and understand the tone. This says a lot, but this was the original termination letter.
00:04:36
Speaker 2: We are notifying you that any and all personal services, security or otherwise provided by you, as well as any services of any of your related companies, vendors, employees or contractors. are formally dismissed and terminated as of your receipt of this notice from providing any further services which include but are not limited to security services related to all of the Dolly Parton properties.
00:05:04
Speaker 1: It goes on and they just want to be clear.
00:05:06
Speaker 2: For the avoidance of doubt, effective immediately. The Brian Seaver Companies, you or any other persons under the Seaver Companies, or your control or influence in any way may not enter, monitor, attend, or remain at or on any of the properties. Should you or anyone related to the Brian Seaver Companies set foot on, disrupt, Attend or monitor the properties after your receipt of this notice. All of the above entities reserve all rights and remedies available at law or equity.
00:05:47
Speaker 1: Broke, set foot on. So first I was reading through the letter and I said, okay, this seems like pretty formal stuff. Then it got into, you start raising your eyebrow, like what the hell is going on?
00:05:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it continues. For the smooth and proper transition, which will need to happen immediately, we instruct you to inform your personnel, contractors, and vendors of this change the moment after you read this letter. For an orderly and efficient transition, we have replacement services lined up through, and your folks will be notified by them in the minutes after you receive this letter to peaceably vacate the properties at once and you should instruct them not to take or damage anything as they leave and not to return. Don't let the door hit you on the way out. Never come back. That was almost like a restraining order in a termination letter.
00:06:43
Speaker 1: We don't ever want to see you again. And if we do, we will take immediate legal action. Get the hell off our property right now and don't ever come back. Whoa. What in the world is happening? So that clearly, Robes, if you don't know any backstory, you know there is one going on that we don't know. Now, he had an initial response to it, which was fair enough, I guess, Robes. I don't know what to make of this, but he did respond. I think he gave this response to TMZ initially, saying, 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. Okay, so that sets up what we've found out now, Robes, with this restraining order. And some of the things they suggest, Robes, have to do with, yes, extortion, threats having to do with, yes, I want money, and also, Robes, threats. Violent threats.
00:07:53
Speaker 2: Yes, this is concerning. And the estate is claiming that Seaver began to make those threats before Dolly Parton even died. And some of those threats, they say, were in fact violent. And to that point, they say even some of the employees within the estate quit. Some of them hired private security because of The threats that were violent by Seaver, they were so concerned that they actually hired their own security to protect themselves against Seaver. This is what the estate is claiming.
00:08:28
Speaker 1: So let's get into, yes, this restraining order they're now asking for. They have filed this thing. But Roeb, just a few things. They go into a little more explanation, but they also include some of the text message he allegedly sent. Roeb, this is a little... It's obviously disturbing and scary stuff. We'll let you hear what his response was to some of this, how he was dismissive of it. Is that fair to say?
00:08:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, he tried to explain. Here's the deal. We should say this. Brian Seaver, he has responded. He has not denied that these texts are from him or that he wrote these texts the way they are in this lawsuit or in this restraining order. But he tries to explain it in a way, and we'll let you decide if you believe his explanation, because these texts are pretty damning.
00:09:20
Speaker 1: Because apparently he does have a significant background, military background. He has a lot of security services and companies. He even claims that he works with international, with governments' robes, and even providing sometimes connections for weaponry and So he apparently has some bordering on mercenary background when you hear him describe it.
00:09:44
Speaker 2: Yes, that's what it sounds like. A very good way to put it indeed. But an excerpt from the restraining order reads as follows.
00:09:52
Speaker 1: Mr.
00:09:52
Speaker 2: Seaver began his campaign of threats, intimidation and coercion a few weeks prior to Ms. Parton's passing in right. he vowed to destroy the entire brand and also told her entertainment attorney, I'm not an entertainment person. I'm a killer.
00:10:12
Speaker 1: They say there were several. They only cite a few, but Robes, they say There were several such messages like that to several people that he sent. One here, and we'll get to the extortion part now. Quote, her money better be bigger than I can make elsewhere or I'm going to fuck everyone. I'm about to become the hand of retribution for my entire family. There's another here, but this sets up a tone or at least it sounds like a guy angry who wants something or at least doesn't feel like, what, he's getting his fair cut or he's about to lose business or I don't know.
00:10:48
Speaker 2: It does appear to be about money. This is a text from Seaver. I'll set up a podcast dedicated to ruining Dolly's brand partnerships and telling the violations these people have done on us. It's going to be great or pay me. That is about as cut and dry as you can get.
00:11:11
Speaker 1: We saw him in that video. How many minutes did that go? Several minutes, at least three or so, while he was explaining her wishes. And he told a couple of jokes that we could tell were Dolly Parton jokes, right? Yeah. Being buried in... Something soft and not rhinestones for a change.
00:11:24
Speaker 2: After wearing rhinestones for all these years. Yeah.
00:11:27
Speaker 1: Never seen him before. Didn't know anything about him. And you felt there was a warmth there and a familiarity. And I thought it was proper that he would do this. Okay. Now, hearing he is in a fight with the estate, I don't get upset necessarily at him because I have goodwill and I watched that video. However, robes. If he's making threats to hurt Dolly Parton in some way, he is going to lose every single bit of goodwill he could possibly have had in this fight.
00:11:57
Speaker 2: And it's disturbing because we, yes, all saw that video. And it seemed homespun and familial and... Colloquial and justâ you felt good.
00:12:10
Speaker 1: It was appropriate, yes.
00:12:11
Speaker 2: Seeing a family member of hers be able to deliver this, it just was perfectly Dolly. And now to see these text messages coming from that same man.
00:12:23
Speaker 1: Babe, that's hard.
00:12:25
Speaker 2: That feels like we wereâ like I feelâ I feel betrayed. How could that kind person who Dolly entrusted with her life, with her safety? How could he be sending texts that are so menacing, demanding money? That makes you feel so icky. And then I feel so sad for Dolly. Was that who he was the entire time? Was he pretending in front of her? Was he fooling her into believing he was some trustworthy, loving family member? I don't know.
00:12:58
Speaker 1: I think she had to. He talked about getting a taste of being out on the road as a kid, right? That's his aunt. He's gone out. They've been together a long time. I don't.
00:13:11
Speaker 2: Money corrupts, though.
00:13:13
Speaker 1: To the point you want to destroy or try or threaten even to destroy the legacy of Dolly Parton. Nobody's going to be on board with that.
00:13:20
Speaker 2: Nobody is.
00:13:21
Speaker 1: What was your reaction when we first heard he was fired? That was kind of shocking. We heard about his firing before we heard about all this back and forth. I was shocked. What in the world is going on? They got rid of him? That's too bad. My heart went out to him initially. Like, oh, she passed and now this new estate wants to push out the family members. That was my initial reaction.
00:13:43
Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, these texts suggest otherwise.
00:13:47
Speaker 1: Well, how does he explain himself? Stay here. You got to hear this.
00:14:00
Speaker 2: Welcome back, everyone, to Amy and TJ. This is so messy. Brian Seaver, the nephew that Dolly Parton entrusted to tell the world that she had passed, has been fired. That's one thing. But now we're hearing and seeing and reading texts that he reportedly sent to her estate, threatening them, threatening them. to basically smear Dolly Parton's legacy if he didn't get paid. So yes, that is deeply disturbing. It's a mess that nobody wanted to hear about. But wait until you hear his response, because I was a little shocked by what he had to say about these texts. He didn't deny them, first of all, but he tried to explain them.
00:14:52
Speaker 1: I was going to say he tried to defend them. Yeah, he was a little, this is just weird. I mean, you can read them here, but this was, okay, I guess this is the best he can do.
00:15:05
Speaker 2: He claims he told this to TMZ, nothing in this lawsuit were threats, and most of the comments, I stand by. He said that they took his comments. And took them out of context to make it look like he was threatening people. But I don't know, when you read them, it certainly looks like he is directly threatening folks, saying that he is a killer. But he said he was talking frankly in a private way with Danny, who I thought was my friend. He's the one who heads up the... The LLC.
00:15:38
Speaker 1: Okay.
00:15:38
Speaker 2: The She's Alive, 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. That's not what that sounded like to me. Rage talk?
00:16:01
Speaker 1: And then Dolly Parton put a guy in head of her estate who fancies himself a gangster.
00:16:07
Speaker 2: Okay.
00:16:07
Speaker 1: I mean, it's two sides to every story here. These are kind of a heavy lift to try to believe this.
00:16:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, because part of the text were all I do is warfare. Everyone needs to be worried about what I might do. I'm not an entertainment person. I'm a killer. And I'm going to rat F every entity I can possibly conjure. Like that doesn't, is that rage talk from someone who's grieving?
00:16:35
Speaker 1: Maybe he's suggesting that there are entities outside of the estate or outside of Dolly that might try to do her harm and he's going to protect her? He's trying to say that's what he's saying.
00:16:47
Speaker 2: So he's saying in regard to the rat F comment, he said, I was talking about people that have done bad to Dolly in business, a specific company that scared her and intimidated her. These comments were about specific horrible business partners that have done wrong to her, and I stand by that. So he's saying his comments are being taken out of context, that he wasn't threatening the estate, he wasn't threatening employees of the estate, he was threatening businesses that behave badly towards Dolly. Okay.
00:17:16
Speaker 1: And maybe he has a case to make. This all looks bad now, and no matter who is right, wrong, and both sides are a little right and a little wrong, which is usually always the case. This sucks for Dolly. It does. This sucks for a doll. Everything. Robe, she went through a year of giving us all peace and calm, of being comfortable with her not being in good health. Never told us she was dying. Made us all feel good when she knew good and hell well.
00:17:44
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:17:45
Speaker 1: Mama Parton took care of us all at the end of her life. And this, this, they are doing her so wrong. The estate and this guy, y'all don't. Y'all got to do better. It's awful because.
00:17:59
Speaker 2: Even someone, you always say, well, if you put things in writing and you have your affairs in order, this prevents this sort of feud. And unfortunately, even when you do everything right in life and you try to leave a plan behind when you've got that much money, but this is just another example. Money corrupts. This is awful. No one wants to see this. This is terrible to read. The threats, pay me, pay up. That's where he lost me. He can say that he's worried about businesses that have done her wrong, but he's asking for money, and that's the issue.
00:18:40
Speaker 1: What's next in this? I guess it hasn't been ruled on whether or not they will be granted that restraining order. I guess at this point it's escalated to a point publicly that you can imagine there being an incident where hopefully there's not an incident. He's not supposed to set foot Anywhere. I mean, the way they talk about it, Robes, this is a very well-trained guy whose part of his job is to carry weaponry. Yes. Robes, they sound like they are scared of him physically, like real-world violence, not just threats of a podcast. That's awful. This is awful. So hopefully they get this worked out. We'll see what happens with the restraining order. But wanted to put this on your radar this morning. We always appreciate you. Spending a little time with us. I'm TJ. On behalf of my dear Amy Robach, we will talk to you all soon.
Speaker 1: Hey there, folks. It is Wednesday, September 23rd, and this is just a damn shame. A fight has erupted between some of Dolly Parton's family members and her estate, and there are accusations of extortion and threats to destroy Dolly's brand. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ Rose. It's hard to avoid the phrase, she must be rolling over. in her freaking grave.
00:00:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is awful. And in terms of Dolly Parton's legacy, we've talked so much about how she has just been the face of generosity and love, bridging folks together who wouldn't be able to unite on one thing except for that they all love Dolly Parton. So to think that in her passing, the people who she held closest to her, surrounded her, are now fighting between one another. And the texts that have come out in this now legal action taking place, this is actually beyond just a family feud. This is potentially violent. This is beyond ugly. And this could end up being criminal.
00:01:21
Speaker 1: We'll see what direction this goes and robes its... It's also of note, right? If we had told this story, if we'd heard all this and said her nephew is in a battle with her estate, your question would be, okay, who is this nephew and what relation did he have to her? And then, Robe, this is why it's so significant. He is the guy who told the world about her death. He played very prominently, Robe, in her life and in her death.
00:01:49
Speaker 2: She chose him. She chose him while she was still alive to be the person. And think about the significance of that, to be the face of her announcement. That is a big deal. And that shows you just how much she trusted him, just how much she loved him, that she would give him this honor and this duty.
00:02:10
Speaker 1: Yeah, and Rose, we have seen and we've learned afterwards, she put a lot of stuff in place to make sure everybody knew exactly what to do upon her death. She's made songs that are supposed to be released in decades. She put everything in order. I want to be dressed in this. I want this video. Robe, she is very particular. So we are led to believe that if she chose him, she knew what the hell she was doing, and he was a very big deal to her. So that's the guy we're talking about, folks, in the middle of this. Robe didn't know his name ahead of time, but Brian... And he had been with her, not just with her robes, close by her for decades.
00:02:50
Speaker 2: Head of her security. I mean, you don't get closer than that. He was responsible for protecting her in every way. And he was her nephew, the son of her younger sister, Cassie, I believe. And yeah, served as head of her security for more than 20 years. And he inherited that position from his own father.
00:03:14
Speaker 1: So there you go. Robes, this guy was important to her.
00:03:17
Speaker 2: He ran deep.
00:03:18
Speaker 1: Very, very important. So why is that guy now in a nasty fight with her estate that includes restraining orders? So who is he fighting? Going to the point of just how much she set things up in her death, she set up a new trust. That specific trust that is meant to do nothing but handle her business and her legacy and her brand moving forward. And she named it She's Alive LLC.
00:03:49
Speaker 2: I love that.
00:03:50
Speaker 1: Dolly Parton was on top of everything having to do with her death.
00:03:53
Speaker 2: Even a wink and a nod and a ha-ha-ha to the name of her company posthumously created, or at least to continue on after her death to name it She's Alive.
00:04:05
Speaker 1: So that group, again, she died August 25th. Within three weeks of her death, She's Alive, or her estate at the time, sent him a termination letter. He said it came out of nowhere, but Robes, TMZ was the one that got their hands on it. And the excerpts here are, holy hell, you wonder what was going on. But this is the letter he got. And Robes, it's important to read. I know it's a little bit here, but it's important to read and understand the tone. This says a lot, but this was the original termination letter.
00:04:36
Speaker 2: We are notifying you that any and all personal services, security or otherwise provided by you, as well as any services of any of your related companies, vendors, employees or contractors. are formally dismissed and terminated as of your receipt of this notice from providing any further services which include but are not limited to security services related to all of the Dolly Parton properties.
00:05:04
Speaker 1: It goes on and they just want to be clear.
00:05:06
Speaker 2: For the avoidance of doubt, effective immediately. The Brian Seaver Companies, you or any other persons under the Seaver Companies, or your control or influence in any way may not enter, monitor, attend, or remain at or on any of the properties. Should you or anyone related to the Brian Seaver Companies set foot on, disrupt, Attend or monitor the properties after your receipt of this notice. All of the above entities reserve all rights and remedies available at law or equity.
00:05:47
Speaker 1: Broke, set foot on. So first I was reading through the letter and I said, okay, this seems like pretty formal stuff. Then it got into, you start raising your eyebrow, like what the hell is going on?
00:05:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it continues. For the smooth and proper transition, which will need to happen immediately, we instruct you to inform your personnel, contractors, and vendors of this change the moment after you read this letter. For an orderly and efficient transition, we have replacement services lined up through, and your folks will be notified by them in the minutes after you receive this letter to peaceably vacate the properties at once and you should instruct them not to take or damage anything as they leave and not to return. Don't let the door hit you on the way out. Never come back. That was almost like a restraining order in a termination letter.
00:06:43
Speaker 1: We don't ever want to see you again. And if we do, we will take immediate legal action. Get the hell off our property right now and don't ever come back. Whoa. What in the world is happening? So that clearly, Robes, if you don't know any backstory, you know there is one going on that we don't know. Now, he had an initial response to it, which was fair enough, I guess, Robes. I don't know what to make of this, but he did respond. I think he gave this response to TMZ initially, saying, 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. Okay, so that sets up what we've found out now, Robes, with this restraining order. And some of the things they suggest, Robes, have to do with, yes, extortion, threats having to do with, yes, I want money, and also, Robes, threats. Violent threats.
00:07:53
Speaker 2: Yes, this is concerning. And the estate is claiming that Seaver began to make those threats before Dolly Parton even died. And some of those threats, they say, were in fact violent. And to that point, they say even some of the employees within the estate quit. Some of them hired private security because of The threats that were violent by Seaver, they were so concerned that they actually hired their own security to protect themselves against Seaver. This is what the estate is claiming.
00:08:28
Speaker 1: So let's get into, yes, this restraining order they're now asking for. They have filed this thing. But Roeb, just a few things. They go into a little more explanation, but they also include some of the text message he allegedly sent. Roeb, this is a little... It's obviously disturbing and scary stuff. We'll let you hear what his response was to some of this, how he was dismissive of it. Is that fair to say?
00:08:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, he tried to explain. Here's the deal. We should say this. Brian Seaver, he has responded. He has not denied that these texts are from him or that he wrote these texts the way they are in this lawsuit or in this restraining order. But he tries to explain it in a way, and we'll let you decide if you believe his explanation, because these texts are pretty damning.
00:09:20
Speaker 1: Because apparently he does have a significant background, military background. He has a lot of security services and companies. He even claims that he works with international, with governments' robes, and even providing sometimes connections for weaponry and So he apparently has some bordering on mercenary background when you hear him describe it.
00:09:44
Speaker 2: Yes, that's what it sounds like. A very good way to put it indeed. But an excerpt from the restraining order reads as follows.
00:09:52
Speaker 1: Mr.
00:09:52
Speaker 2: Seaver began his campaign of threats, intimidation and coercion a few weeks prior to Ms. Parton's passing in right. he vowed to destroy the entire brand and also told her entertainment attorney, I'm not an entertainment person. I'm a killer.
00:10:12
Speaker 1: They say there were several. They only cite a few, but Robes, they say There were several such messages like that to several people that he sent. One here, and we'll get to the extortion part now. Quote, her money better be bigger than I can make elsewhere or I'm going to fuck everyone. I'm about to become the hand of retribution for my entire family. There's another here, but this sets up a tone or at least it sounds like a guy angry who wants something or at least doesn't feel like, what, he's getting his fair cut or he's about to lose business or I don't know.
00:10:48
Speaker 2: It does appear to be about money. This is a text from Seaver. I'll set up a podcast dedicated to ruining Dolly's brand partnerships and telling the violations these people have done on us. It's going to be great or pay me. That is about as cut and dry as you can get.
00:11:11
Speaker 1: We saw him in that video. How many minutes did that go? Several minutes, at least three or so, while he was explaining her wishes. And he told a couple of jokes that we could tell were Dolly Parton jokes, right? Yeah. Being buried in... Something soft and not rhinestones for a change.
00:11:24
Speaker 2: After wearing rhinestones for all these years. Yeah.
00:11:27
Speaker 1: Never seen him before. Didn't know anything about him. And you felt there was a warmth there and a familiarity. And I thought it was proper that he would do this. Okay. Now, hearing he is in a fight with the estate, I don't get upset necessarily at him because I have goodwill and I watched that video. However, robes. If he's making threats to hurt Dolly Parton in some way, he is going to lose every single bit of goodwill he could possibly have had in this fight.
00:11:57
Speaker 2: And it's disturbing because we, yes, all saw that video. And it seemed homespun and familial and... Colloquial and justâ you felt good.
00:12:10
Speaker 1: It was appropriate, yes.
00:12:11
Speaker 2: Seeing a family member of hers be able to deliver this, it just was perfectly Dolly. And now to see these text messages coming from that same man.
00:12:23
Speaker 1: Babe, that's hard.
00:12:25
Speaker 2: That feels like we wereâ like I feelâ I feel betrayed. How could that kind person who Dolly entrusted with her life, with her safety? How could he be sending texts that are so menacing, demanding money? That makes you feel so icky. And then I feel so sad for Dolly. Was that who he was the entire time? Was he pretending in front of her? Was he fooling her into believing he was some trustworthy, loving family member? I don't know.
00:12:58
Speaker 1: I think she had to. He talked about getting a taste of being out on the road as a kid, right? That's his aunt. He's gone out. They've been together a long time. I don't.
00:13:11
Speaker 2: Money corrupts, though.
00:13:13
Speaker 1: To the point you want to destroy or try or threaten even to destroy the legacy of Dolly Parton. Nobody's going to be on board with that.
00:13:20
Speaker 2: Nobody is.
00:13:21
Speaker 1: What was your reaction when we first heard he was fired? That was kind of shocking. We heard about his firing before we heard about all this back and forth. I was shocked. What in the world is going on? They got rid of him? That's too bad. My heart went out to him initially. Like, oh, she passed and now this new estate wants to push out the family members. That was my initial reaction.
00:13:43
Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, these texts suggest otherwise.
00:13:47
Speaker 1: Well, how does he explain himself? Stay here. You got to hear this.
00:14:00
Speaker 2: Welcome back, everyone, to Amy and TJ. This is so messy. Brian Seaver, the nephew that Dolly Parton entrusted to tell the world that she had passed, has been fired. That's one thing. But now we're hearing and seeing and reading texts that he reportedly sent to her estate, threatening them, threatening them. to basically smear Dolly Parton's legacy if he didn't get paid. So yes, that is deeply disturbing. It's a mess that nobody wanted to hear about. But wait until you hear his response, because I was a little shocked by what he had to say about these texts. He didn't deny them, first of all, but he tried to explain them.
00:14:52
Speaker 1: I was going to say he tried to defend them. Yeah, he was a little, this is just weird. I mean, you can read them here, but this was, okay, I guess this is the best he can do.
00:15:05
Speaker 2: He claims he told this to TMZ, nothing in this lawsuit were threats, and most of the comments, I stand by. He said that they took his comments. And took them out of context to make it look like he was threatening people. But I don't know, when you read them, it certainly looks like he is directly threatening folks, saying that he is a killer. But he said he was talking frankly in a private way with Danny, who I thought was my friend. He's the one who heads up the... The LLC.
00:15:38
Speaker 1: Okay.
00:15:38
Speaker 2: The She's Alive, 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. That's not what that sounded like to me. Rage talk?
00:16:01
Speaker 1: And then Dolly Parton put a guy in head of her estate who fancies himself a gangster.
00:16:07
Speaker 2: Okay.
00:16:07
Speaker 1: I mean, it's two sides to every story here. These are kind of a heavy lift to try to believe this.
00:16:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, because part of the text were all I do is warfare. Everyone needs to be worried about what I might do. I'm not an entertainment person. I'm a killer. And I'm going to rat F every entity I can possibly conjure. Like that doesn't, is that rage talk from someone who's grieving?
00:16:35
Speaker 1: Maybe he's suggesting that there are entities outside of the estate or outside of Dolly that might try to do her harm and he's going to protect her? He's trying to say that's what he's saying.
00:16:47
Speaker 2: So he's saying in regard to the rat F comment, he said, I was talking about people that have done bad to Dolly in business, a specific company that scared her and intimidated her. These comments were about specific horrible business partners that have done wrong to her, and I stand by that. So he's saying his comments are being taken out of context, that he wasn't threatening the estate, he wasn't threatening employees of the estate, he was threatening businesses that behave badly towards Dolly. Okay.
00:17:16
Speaker 1: And maybe he has a case to make. This all looks bad now, and no matter who is right, wrong, and both sides are a little right and a little wrong, which is usually always the case. This sucks for Dolly. It does. This sucks for a doll. Everything. Robe, she went through a year of giving us all peace and calm, of being comfortable with her not being in good health. Never told us she was dying. Made us all feel good when she knew good and hell well.
00:17:44
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:17:45
Speaker 1: Mama Parton took care of us all at the end of her life. And this, this, they are doing her so wrong. The estate and this guy, y'all don't. Y'all got to do better. It's awful because.
00:17:59
Speaker 2: Even someone, you always say, well, if you put things in writing and you have your affairs in order, this prevents this sort of feud. And unfortunately, even when you do everything right in life and you try to leave a plan behind when you've got that much money, but this is just another example. Money corrupts. This is awful. No one wants to see this. This is terrible to read. The threats, pay me, pay up. That's where he lost me. He can say that he's worried about businesses that have done her wrong, but he's asking for money, and that's the issue.
00:18:40
Speaker 1: What's next in this? I guess it hasn't been ruled on whether or not they will be granted that restraining order. I guess at this point it's escalated to a point publicly that you can imagine there being an incident where hopefully there's not an incident. He's not supposed to set foot Anywhere. I mean, the way they talk about it, Robes, this is a very well-trained guy whose part of his job is to carry weaponry. Yes. Robes, they sound like they are scared of him physically, like real-world violence, not just threats of a podcast. That's awful. This is awful. So hopefully they get this worked out. We'll see what happens with the restraining order. But wanted to put this on your radar this morning. We always appreciate you. Spending a little time with us. I'm TJ. On behalf of my dear Amy Robach, we will talk to you all soon.