Photo Credit: Getty Images
Dolly Parton's nephew Bryan Seaver is pushing back against allegations that he threatened employees and business associates connected to the late country music star's estate, calling a temporary restraining order against him "spurious and simply a publicity stunt."
Seaver was fired in September after working as Parton's head of security for nearly 20 years. He told ABC News that his termination came over what he described as "contrived threats."
"I was fired. After the estate negotiated with me and my company for services in perpetuity and agreed to that service provision from my company," Seaver said. "A week later they fired me for these contrived 'threats.'"
Parton's estate, through She's Alive LLC, filed for a temporary restraining order against Seaver on Sept. 22. Court documents accuse him of making escalating threats against the estate, employees, attorneys and business partners, including allegedly warning that he could "destroy the entire brand" if his demands for money were not met.
The filings also point to messages in which Seaver allegedly referred to himself as a "killer" and discussed his experience as a military contractor and access to weapons.
Seaver denies that the comments were threats and says some of the language has been taken out of context. He explained that Parton herself used to jokingly refer to him as "her killer."
"Dolly called me her killer. It was a joke we used around her camp," he said. "I was her 'baby boy ninja' and Danny Nozell took that text out of context to somehow imagine that I was threatening him. He's always called me The Killer."
"I've never threatened anyone," Seaver added. "They are my friends and my brothers and colleagues."
The estate has alleged that Seaver's behavior created an unsafe working environment and claimed some employees and legal advisers left because of his conduct. It also accused him of threatening to launch a podcast aimed at damaging Parton's brand and business partnerships.
