Taylor Swift, DJ head to court over groping claim
DENVER: Taylor Swift and her support team did not call police after she said she had been groped by a Denver radio host during a photo session before a concert.
Instead, they called his boss, and David Mueller lost his job. The disc jockey later sued the singer-songwriter, saying he had been falsely accused and wanted $3 million in damages.
Swift countersued, claiming sexual assault, setting up a civil trial set to begin Monday in federal court in Denver that will largely turn on who the eight-member jury believes.
Swift is scheduled to testify. Both sides say no settlement is in the works.
The lawsuits provide differing accounts of backstage events before Swift performed at a 2013 concert at the Pepsi Center in Denver.
Swift tried to keep the situation “discreet and quiet and confidential” and was upset by Mueller’s claim that “for some reason she might have some incentive to actually fabricate this story,” her attorney, Douglas Baldridge, has argued in court.
Swift is seeking a verdict that awards her $1, while holding Mueller responsible and “serving as an example to other women who may resist publicly reliving similar outrageous and humiliating acts,” her lawsuit states.
Mueller, then 51, was a morning host at a Denver country-music station when he was assigned to attend Swift’s June 2, 2013, concert.