Dolly Parton’s nephew, Bryan Seaver, has delivered a scathing 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 the news of her death last month.
In court documents reviewed by TMZ, Nozell alleged that Seaver demanded money while referring to his claimed experience as a military contractor, his access to weapons and his alleged capacity for violence.
According to the filing, Seaver referred to 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, explaining that the phrase was an inside joke within Parton’s circle. “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.”
The Daily Mail has contacted Bryan Seaver, Danny Nozell and Nozell’s attorney, Timothy L. Warnock, for comment.
Dolly Parton’s nephew Bryan Seaver has issued a scathing response to her manager Danny Nozell amid their escalating legal battle over her estate; Parton and Seaver pictured in 2017
Parton, pictured at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry in 2019, died last month at the age of 80 following a brief, private battle with cancer
Nozell filed the restraining-order request through Parton’s company, She’s Alive, LLC. He also stated in the legal documents that he had dismissed Seaver from his position as the singer’s security chief.
TMZ reported, citing court documents, that Seaver allegedly told 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 filing also cited another message allegedly sent by Seaver to Nozell: “All I do is warfare … everyone needs to be worried about what I might do.”
Seaver also allegedly said he planned to launch a podcast aimed at damaging Dolly Parton’s brand partnerships and exposing alleged violations by those involved, according to the court filing cited by TMZ.
Nozell 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, according to the report.
Responding to the restraining-order request on Tuesday, Seaver told TMZ: “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 said the text messages included in the legal filing had been taken out of context to create the impression that he was trying to intimidate Nozell.
“I was talking frankly in a private way with Danny who I thought was my friend and he fancies himself a gangster,” Seaver told the outlet. “A lot of these messages are two guys having rage talk and crying on the phone together while we were grieving.”
Nozell alleged in documents reviewed by TMZ that Seaver demanded money and referred to “his self-proclaimed military-contractor experience, access to weapons, and capacity for violence.” Nozell said he fired Seaver on September 15; Parton pictured in Nashville, Tennessee, in 2023
Seaver said one remark, in which he allegedly threatened to “rat f***” an organization whose name was redacted from the report, 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.’
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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.’
Nozell (R) 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, according to the report; Above, Parton and Nozell in LA in 2022
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.
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 following a battle with cancer, Seaver had been seen in a clip in which he revealed the sad news.
‘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,’ Seaver said in the emotional clip.
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.
Seaver told TMZ on Tuesday: ‘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’; Above, Parton in Las Vegas in 2022
‘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.