Dolly Parton's nephew confirms firing, calls move for a restraining order a 'publicity stunt'
The nephew of late music star Dolly Parton who served as her longtime head of security confirms he was fired after her death, and said a restraining order has been requested against him by the corporation that runs Parton's entertainment empire.
"The restraining order is spurious and simply a publicity stunt," Bryan Seaver said in a statement to ABC News Wednesday.
Seaver was the family member who officially announced Parton's death in a video message released after the 80-year-old singer died on Aug. 25 after a brief battle with cancer.
He told ABC News he was fired last week after serving as Parton's head of security for nearly 20 years.
Seaver, a son of one of Parton's 11 siblings, said he was terminated over what he calls "contrived threats."
"I was fired. After the estate negotiated with me and my company for services in perpetuity and agreed to that service provision from my company," Seaver said in a statement. "A week later they fired me for these contrived 'threats.'"
Parton, who became known for her entrepreneurial skills in addition to her music prowess, left behind a multimillion dollar estate, including the Dollywood amusement park. She and her husband of nearly 60 years, Carl Dean, who died last year, had no children.
On Tuesday, She's Alive, the company overseeing Parton's multiple businesses, filed for a restraining order against Seaver, accusing him of “an obscene, deliberate and escalating campaign of threats” against Parton's estate, according to a request for a temporary restraining order filed Tuesday in Davidson County Chancery Court in Nashville.
The document also alleges Seaver threatened attorneys, business partners and employees and at one point allegedly warned he could "destroy the entire brand" unless he was paid.
Seaver is also alleged to have told a member of Parton's legal team, "I'm not an entertainment person. I'm a killer," according to the court document.
Seaver denies the allegations in the court filing, telling ABC News that his late aunt jokingly called him "her killer."
"Dolly called me her killer. It was a joke we used around her camp," Seaver said. "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."
He added, "I've never threatened anyone ... They are my friends and my brothers and colleagues."
Nozell, Parton's longtime manager who oversees She's Alive, has not replied to ABC News' request for comment.
