Dolly Parton’s nephew allegedly intimidated staffers at the late country singer’s Nashville hotel and museum, according to a new lawsuit.
Bryan Seaver — who worked as his aunt’s head of security — allegedly targeted employees of Parton’s Dollywood business partner, She’s Alive, LLC, the entity managing the country music icon’s professional property and business interests, claimed in court docs obtained by Page Six Wednesday.
The alleged intimidation, which also involved Seaver’s security associates from Squadron Augmented Protection Services (SAPS), unfolded at Parton’s SongTeller Hotel and Dolly’s Life of Many Colors Museum in downtown Nashville, per the filing.
The museum occupies the third floor of the luxury boutique hotel in Tennessee’s capital city.
“Mr. Seaver and his SAPS associates menaced and intimidated the Dollywood business partner’s personnel at the SongTeller Hotel and Dolly’s Life of Many Colors Museum in downtown Nashville,” the complaint alleges.
The filing also claims that just six days before Parton’s passing, Seaver allegedly texted the “Jolene” artist’s longtime manager, Danny Nozell, about “interfering with the operations of Dollywood.”
According to the lawsuit, Seaver allegedly wrote in the message to Nozell, “I’m going to destroy the entire brand if you don’t get these [Dollywood business partners] out of our bit…. I’m going to go to Billboard Magazine with my s–t. Just like you. I’m going to ratf–k every [Dollywood business partner] entity I can possibly conjure.”
The plaintiff described the text message in the docs as a “direct threat to sabotage a core business relationship and to use public exposure as a weapon against SAL and its partners.”
As part of the suit, Nozell filed a restraining orderagainst Seaver promptly after firing him as the head of security.
Nozell, who managed Parton for more than 20 years, accused Seaver of “invoking his self-proclaimed military-contractor experience, access to weapons, and capacity for violence” to demand money, and alleges he started threatening him a few weeks before the singer died.
Additionally, the management company claimed in the lawsuit that employees stopped going into the office out of fear of Seaver’s allegedly threatening texts.
Seaver stood by his loaded language included in the lawsuit, telling TMZin a statement, “Nothing in this lawsuit were threats and most of the comments I stand by.”
Seaver added, “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.”
The security official claimed that his firing was “unexpected” and “unexplained,” and he shared in a statement to the outlet that he and his team “refuse to be intimidated.”
While Seaver and his security companies were let go, he is still a beneficiary of Parton’s trust, which covers her business interests and properties.
Seaver was notably the person who announced Parton’s death to the world. The “9 to 5” star died on August 25 after a secret battle with cancer. She was 80.
Parton left behind a staggering $450 million empire.
Page Six has reached out to Seaver, SAPS, and She’s Alive, LLC for comment.
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