Groping suits cast pall over Taylor Swift’s year
Fired DJ suing over what he says are false claims; pop star countersuing
During the past year, which Taylor Swift has mostly taken off from music save for one surprising concert, the pop star has (unsurprisingly), continued to make headlines.
First, there was her breakup with Calvin Harris. Then there was her fleeting, Instagram-ready relationship with Tom Hiddleston.
But one dark cloud hung over much of the year: her drawn-out legal battle with Denver country radio DJ David Mueller.
It began in June 2013, when after performing a concert at Denver’s Pepsi Center, Swift attended a meet-and-greet. During that event, which Mueller attended with this girlfriend Shannon Melcher, he allegedly groped Swift while the couple took a photograph with her.
Later in the evening, Swift’s security team accused him of groping the superstar, Billboard reported. Mueller was fired from KYGO, the station where he had worked.
In response, Mueller filed a lawsuit claiming he lost his job based on false allegations. He claimed it was a co-worker who had groped Swift. He claimed his “superior” at KYGO, Eddie Haskell, “described and demonstrated how he had put his arms around her, hands on her bottom.”
Swift filed a countersuit in October 2015 in which she demanded a jury trial. “Ms. Swift knows exactly who committed the assault — it was Mueller,” the countersuit states.
In a transcript of a video deposition Swift gave in July, she said, “right as the moment came for us to pose for the photo, he took his hand and put it up my dress and grabbed onto my ass cheek.”