Dolly Parton’s nephew Bryan Seaver has delivered a blistering response to her longtime manager, Danny Nozell, as their legal dispute over the singer’s estate intensifies.
Nozell, who managed Parton for more than two decades, obtained a temporary restraining order against Seaver. The former security chief had been trusted by Parton to announce her death last month.
In court documents reviewed by TMZ, Nozell alleged that Seaver demanded money and referred to his experience as a military contractor, his access to weapons and his alleged ability to use violence during the confrontation.
According to the filing, Seaver described himself as a “killer” and told Nozell: “All I do is warfare…everyone needs to be worried about what I might do.”
Seaver has now dismissed the “spurious” restraining order as “simply a publicity stunt” in a statement to People.
“Dolly called me her killer,” Seaver said. “It was a joke we used around her camp. 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.”
Our News Outlet has contacted Bryan Seaver, Danny Nozell and Nozell’s attorney, Timothy L Warnock, for comment.
Dolly Parton’s nephew Bryan Seaver has issued a withering response to her manager Danny Nozell in their escalating legal battle over her estate. Above, Parton and Seaver in 2017
Parton, pictured in 2019 at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, died last month at the age of 80 after a secret cancer battle
Nozell filed the restraining-order application through Parton’s company, She’s Alive, LLC. In the documents, he also stated that he had dismissed Seaver from his role overseeing the singer’s security.
TMZ reported that the filing quotes Seaver as telling Nozell: “Her money better be bigger than I can make elsewhere or I’m going to f*** everyone. I am about to become the hand of retribution for my entire family.”
The documents also included another message allegedly sent by Seaver: “All I do is warfare … everyone needs to be worried about what I might do.”
Seaver allegedly told Nozell that he intended to launch a podcast aimed at damaging Dolly Parton’s brand partnerships and exposing what he described as violations committed against the family, according to the court filing cited by TMZ.
Nozell has asked the court to require Seaver to stay at least 1,000 feet away from Parton’s office and to bar him from contacting the singer’s businesses or affiliates, the report said.
Addressing the restraining-order request in comments to TMZ on Tuesday, Seaver said: “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.”
Seaver argued that the messages included in Nozell’s filing had been stripped of their context, creating the impression that he was attempting to intimidate the manager.
“I was talking frankly in a private way with Danny who I thought was my friend and he fancies himself a gangster,” Bryan told the outlet. “A lot of these messages are two guys having rage talk and crying on the phone together while we were grieving.”
Seaver, whose mother Cassie is Parton’s sister, was in charge of security for the star and was appointed by the Jolene singer to reveal her death in a public statement. Above, in 2023
Seaver also addressed a message in which he allegedly said he would “rat f***” an organization whose name was redacted from the report. He said the comment referred to “people that have done bad to Dolly in business.”
He added: ‘Those comments were about specific, horrible business partners that have done wrong to her and I stand by that.’
Seaver last week received a notice reviewed by TMZ that he and his security organizations, which provided protection for Parton’s Nashville home, museum and a warehouse, were being replaced by another company.
Insiders told the outlet that they believed Parton’s manager Nozell and Pinnacle Bank were responsible for the decision to terminate him and his employees.
A new security team was deployed to the locations previously overseen by Seaver’s companies on Wednesday after the termination notice was issued, according to the report.
Sources close to Seaver said that he and his associates had been ‘dismayed by the unexpected and, so far, unexplained actions’ carried out in the wake of Parton’s passing.
‘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,’ Seaver’s camp told TMZ.
They told the outlet that they believed the actions had been taken ‘with the intent to profit from the life of someone who willingly gave so much.’
According to TMZ, the notice issued to Seaver indicated that the DP Dean Trust had been overseeing Parton’s business and properties in the wake of her passing.
Seaver retains a personal interest in her trust moving forward, according to the report.
Nozell, above with Parton in 2022, requested that the court order Seaver to remain a minimum of 1,000 feet from Parton’s office and to refrain from contacting Parton’s businesses or affiliates
Seaver, whose mother Cassie is Parton’s sister, had been appointed by the late Jolene singer to reveal her death in a public statement.
Following Parton’s August 25 passing, Seaver revealed the sad news in a video message.
‘Dolly has lived in the light, and is in the arms of Jesus, surely met by [late husband] Carl, her parents, and countless others who have watched her and longed for her to meet them in the heavens,’he said.
In the clip, Seaver noted that his father Larry had held the security position before him.
He said that he had been her security head for the past ‘two decades,’ and had been working for her over the past four decades.
‘I first went on the road with Dolly as a kid, getting a taste of the road life in the early 1980s,’ Seaver said. ‘Dolly opened doors not just for me, but for her entire family to reach the potential we didn’t even know was possible.
‘Dolly also opened doors for generations of singers, songwriters, musicians and dreamers from every walk of life and across every continent. By her example, we believed that anything was possible.’
He added: ‘She never saw a door she couldn’t open, and the doors she opened made and changed history. My family and I have shared a lifetime of beautiful memories with Dolly, but so have you.’
Parton has been well-remembered in the weeks since her passing, during which she received an expansive tribute at the Primetime Emmy Awards last week, which featured Reba McEntire and Sally Field.
Nashville International Airport is set to be renamed in Parton’s memory following a vote from the Metro Nashville Airport Authority Board of Commissioners weeks back.
