Dolly Parton’s nephew and longtime head of security Bryan Seaver is pushing back against claims that he sent threatening messages to his late aunt’s estate.
In a Tennessee court filing Tuesday, viewed by The Associated Press, Seaver said that he was a close friend to Parton’s longtime manager Danny Nozell before Nozell took out a restraining order accusing him of threatening to commit violence and destroy his late aunt’s legacy and business empire.
In an affidavit opposing the temporary order becoming permanent, Seaver said text messages Nozell cited as evidence against him were a “private conversation between two friends who were both frustrated, grieving and discussing strategy.”
The text messages were sent shortly before and after Parton’s Aug. 25 death.
Global News has not independently viewed the court documents.
Seaver reportedly said that he never sent threatening messages to any of Parton’s businesses, business partners or their employees.
Last month, Parton’s estate, She’s Alive LLC, terminated Seaver and his company, Squadron Augmented Protection Services, alleging his “terrorizing conduct made their continued retention untenable.”
“Mr. Seaver began his campaign of threats, intimidation, and coercion a few weeks prior to Ms. Parton’s passing…. In writing, he vowed to ‘destroy the entire brand’ and also told her entertainment attorney: ‘I’m not an entertainment person. I’m a killer,’” the legal filing alleged.
The Associated Press reports that Seaver sent text messages and emails to She’s Alive reveling in his newfound fame and calling himself an “international arms dealer.”
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In another alleged message, Seaver said that Nozell had been his longtime confidant and “best friend.”
“I trusted Danny,” Seaver wrote, according to The New York Times, “And that’s what those messages were, two friends and brothers commiserating on the people that have screwed Dolly over for many many years.”
In Seaver’s court filing this week, he reportedly claimed that Nozell did not react with alarm to his text messages at the time and that he agreed with or reacted positively to some of them.
Seaver alleges that Nozell encouraged him to publicly tout the military and arms aspect of his security company as a smart business-promotion move. He claims that Nozell then turned around and used the comments as evidence of Seaver’s alleged capacity for dangerous violence.
She’s Alive LLC was granted a temporary restraining order against Seaver by Chancellor l’Ashea L. Myles, who cited Seaver’s “claimed access to weapons, experience with violence, and intention to retaliate.”
Seaver and his company must refrain from entering any She’s Alive property or talking with or being within about 300 metres of She’s Alive employees and business partners. The order is also meant to keep Seaver from interfering with its business relationships.
He has argued that the order is so broad and Parton’s business reach is so great, that much of Nashville and even his own relatives are off limits to him.
Seaver and She’s Alive LLC will make their cases to Myles at a hearing on Oct. 20.
Earlier this month, Parton’s estate accused Seaver of using barbed wire, yellow caution tape and “no trespassing” signs to barricade his property in an attempt to evade being served with a lawsuit.
In a court filing, viewed by NBC News and People, lawyers for Parton’s estate included images showing the “no trespassing sign” in Seaver’s front yard, barbed wire and caution tape wrapped around the handrails leading to his front door.
After the legal battle between Seaver and Parton’s estate began, the country icon’s sister, Freida Parton, took to Instagram, writing, “I’ll say this and this only: There is no feud within our family.”
“No one among the Parton/Owens family is fighting over Dolly’s estate. We all love Bryan, just as we all love each other,” she wrote on Sept. 23.
On Aug. 25, Seaver announced Parton’s death in a video, saying, “I am representing the Parton and Owens family today, announcing the passing of my Aunt Dolly Rebecca Parton Dean. Sister, sis, Aunt Granny to one generation and Gigi to the next. This video announcement is something Dolly asked of me years ago, before I fully absorbed it as a future reality.”
“As her head of security for more than two decades, a role my father Larry held before me, I have imagined the heaviness of this moment, but haven’t truly felt it until now. It is an honour, an honour that is mixed with absolute pride and great sadness. But sadness lies with us, not with Dolly.”
“Our family and the team she has entrusted with her legacy will work diligently to ensure her spirit will live with us forever,” Seaver added.
—With files from The Associated Press
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