Dolly Parton’s manager files restraining order against fired nephew over threatening texts

There’s more drama in the wake of Dolly Parton’s passing on August 25, 2026, and after the firing of her nephew, Bryan Seaver, a week ago. Danny Nozell, her manager who represents She’s Alive, LLC, fired Seaver from his job as head of security on September 15. Now, he has filed a restraining order against Seaver over alleged disturbing texts and more.

Seaver was the family member who announced Parton’s passing in a video. However, the filing for the restraining order submitted to a Tennessee court paints a very different picture of Seaver than the man who appeared in that video, as the filing alleges the nephew has engaged in a campaign of extortion, coercion, and violent threats.

The filing details a number of strange and threatening messages from Seaver

The legal paperwork filed in court alleges that Seaver used colorful and sometimes ominous language while threatening to interfere with Dollywood and more of Parton’s businesses if he wasn’t paid properly. According to the complaint, some employees of Nozell’s management company now fear coming to work, and at least one lawyer who worked on Parton’s music affairs quit because of Seaver’s reported statements.

According to Variety, the filing from Nozell’s attorneys stated, “Mr. Seaver began his campaign of threats, intimidation, and coercion a few weeks prior to Ms. Parton’s passing. Those threats continued after her passing, and he aimed them directly at SAL’s personnel, counsel, and business partners. In writing, he vowed to ‘destroy the entire brand,’ threatened to ‘ratf*** every [business party] entity’ that helps operate Dollywood and called himself ‘literally an international arms dealer and mercenary.’ He threatened that ‘[e]veryone needs to be worried about what I might do.”

One of the text messages included in the filing that came from Seaver allegedly read, “I’m not an entertainment person. I’m a killer. I sold 27 million $ worth of ammunition and arms to the Haitian Police on the day Dolly died. Entertainment is not my game. I have spent my career breaking things and spying on African and Arab leaders. And protecting Dolly.”

Several other included messages referenced destroying businesses, vengeance, and animosity.

The request for the restraining order sought immediate relief

The request for the restraining order also stated that some vendors had hired security personnel for work and home (which could certainly put a damper on the many business ventures Parton mapped out before her death). Because the threatening language had already created an atmosphere of fear, the filing reportedly requested “immediate, narrowly tailored relief pending a full hearing on a temporary injunction.”

As for Seaver, he issued a statement to TMZ about the whole thing and 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…I was talking frankly in a private way with Danny who I thought was my friend and he fancies himself a gangster. A lot of these messages are two guys having rage talk and crying on the phone together while we were grieving.”

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