Swift on the stand
Swift smacks back at ‘ass grab’ DJ’s lawyer
A feisty Taylor Swift testified Thursday that she was shocked and horrified when a former radio DJ grabbed “a handful of my ass” as she posed with him for a photo at a 2013 meet-and-greet.
“It was a definite grab, a very long grab,” the 27-year-old pop star said confidently on the fourth day of her civil trial in Denver federal court.
“He stayed latched onto my bare ass cheek as I moved away from him visibly uncomfortable.”
Wearing a floral-print dress, Swift was animated as she told the eight-member jury she has no doubts that former KYGO radio host David Mueller, 55, intentionally “grabbed my ass underneath my skirt” — and said she won’t take the blame for his firing.
“I’m not going to allow you or your client to make me feel in any way that this is my fault, because it isn’t,” she declared.
The Grammy winner spent about an hour on the stand and responded to questions about the alleged grope at Denver’s Pepsi Center on June 2, 2013 — sometimes shooting back snarky replies to Mueller’s lawyer.
The ex-DJ sued Swift in 2015, claiming she’d falsely accused him of groping her and got him fired from his job. Swift, who is only seeking a symbolic $1, countersued for assault and battery.
“It was a very shocking thing that I have never dealt with before,” she said of the “horrifying” encounter with Mueller, who seemed like he’d had a “couple cocktails” when he met her.
“After this happened, it was like a light switched off my personality.”
Swift insisted Mueller was “too busy grabbing my ass” to touch her anywhere else during the meet-and-greet.
After the photo op, she thanked the DJ and his girlfriend, Shannon Melcher, in a “monotone voice” and continued meeting with fans, Swift said.
When Mueller’s lawyer, M. Gabriel McFarland, suggested she could’ve taken a break from the meet-and-greet after the alleged grope, Swift shot back: “And your client could have taken a normal photo with me.”
She grew testy again when McFarland asked if she was critical of her bodyguard for not stepping in to stop Mueller from grabbing her. “No, I am critical of your client for sticking his hand under my skirt and grabbing my bare ass,” Swift said, shaking her head in disgust.
Mueller has admitted he took an “awkward” photo with Swift, but insisted he only touched her ribs when he jumped into the shot.
“This was not jostling,” Swift said with certainty. “There was no diving into the picture. We were perfectly in place to have the picture taken. This was not an action shot.”
The “Shake It Off” singer said she didn’t need a photo to identify the man who fondled her.
“He had a handful of my ass. It happened to me. I know it was him,” Swift said. “I didn’t need a picture. I could have picked him out of a line of a thousand.”
She was adamant the photo of them together shows only one thing — his hand on her butt.
“This is a photo of him with his hand up my skirt — with his hand on my ass,” she said. “You can ask me a million questions — I’m never going to say anything different. I never have said anything different.”
She also challenged the lawyer’s assertion her dress doesn’t look ruffled in the photo, forcefully noting: “Because my ass is located on the back of my body.”
The radio executive who fired Mueller, Robert Call, also testified Thursday, saying he canned the ex-DJ because of the photo and his changing story.
He stayed latched onto my bare ass cheek as I moved away from him visibly uncomfortable. -Taylor Swift