Taylor Swift testified against a Colorado DJ on Thursday, delivering deliberate — and downright snarky — testimony claiming she was subjected to a “very long” and “intentional” grope by a Colorado radio disc jockey who appeared to be drunk during a photo session four years ago.
Taylor Swift testily testifies.
Swift, now 27, spoke forcefully under questioning by David Mueller’s attorney, Gabriel McFarland. She said several times, “Your client grabbed my ass,” at one point calling it a “devious and sneaky act.”
McFarland showed the photo from the backstage meet-and-greet at Denver’s Pepsi Center in June 2013 that included Swift, Mueller and Mueller’s then-girlfriend Shannon Melcher.
“Gabe, 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.”
When asked why the front of her skirt did not appear to be lifted, Swift dryly responded, “Because my ass is located in the back of my body.”
Questioned by the attorney as to whether it might simply have been a case of mistaken identity on her part, she fired back: “He had a handful of my ass. I know it was him.”
“If you look at that photo, his hand is not underneath her skirt. It’s not ruffled, rumpled, affected in any form or fashion,” McFarland said, CNN reported.
Mueller admitted that the photo appeared “weird” and “awkward” but said that his closed fist touched what he felt were her ribs.
Taylor Swift, not a victim, won’t just “Shake It Off.”
On the stand, Swift said she refused to feel like the now 55-year-old’s termination from KYGO, a CNN affiliate, is in any way her fault.
“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 said, according to CNN.
“I am being blamed for the unfortunate events of his life that are a product of his decisions and not mine,” Swift added.
DJ just wants his name back.
Mueller initiated the litigation, arguing that Swift had fabricated the story and put pressure on KYGO to fire him from his $150,000-a-year job. Swift then countersued for assault and battery, asking for symbolic damages of $1. She says her representatives told KYGO management about the incident but that she never demanded Mueller be fired.
The former DJ is seeking lost earnings and to clear his name, telling the court this week that it was humiliating to be accused of “something so despicable.” The DJ described the “Bad Blood” singer as cold and standoffish, adding that she paid more attention to his girlfriend than him during the photo op.
KYGO manager Robert Call, who fired Mueller two days after the alleged incident, also took the stand and said Mueller was fired because of his shifting accounts of the incident, and because the photo showed that Mueller’s hand was “not where it was supposed to be.”
Reuters contributed to this report.
