The former manager of pop sensation Lorde has been fired by Warner Music New Zealand after multiple cases of harassment were revealed as part of a Me Too investigation.
New Zealand’s Stuff website revealed years of harassment against female staff by Scott Maclachlan – who began working with Lorde when she was 13 and managed her through the breakout success of hit Royals.
“I do accept the harmful impact of my past behaviour and I try every day to repair the damage and prevent it happening again,” Maclachlan told Stuff.
MacLachlan said he had made “stupid, insensitive and ignorant comments” to female colleagues, including comments about their physical appearance and suggestions to have sexual contact.
The New Zealand-based manager and executive producer told the newspaper he was now doing psychotherapy and trying “to live a simpler, less egotistical life”.
Machlachen split with Lorde in 2016, telling the New Zealand Herald the rupture left him feeling “quite sick”. It was Lorde who made the decision to fire him, and Machlachlan described it as “like a relationship break-up”.
A spokesperson for Warner Music told Stuff Maclachlan’s contract had been terminated after an investigation into an isolated 2018 incident found wider areas of concern regarding his conduct towards women.
Warner Music and Maclachlan have been contacted for comment.
Amy Goldsmith worked at a management company in Auckland founded by Maclachlan. She told Stuff he was emotionally manipulative – a claim Maclachlan agreed with.
“He would insinuate he wanted more [than their professional relationship], he would comment on my body, he would ask whether I wanted to kiss him. Most of the time I just told him to shut up.”
Maclachlan said he has nothing but regret and sorrow for his past behaviour.
“There’s not a day goes by that I don’t regret the harm I have caused people around me and most importantly the pain and embarrassment I have caused my wife and children,” Maclachlan told Stuff. “I have to live with that guilt, knowing that people I worked with have also endured pain and stress because of my actions.”
