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Artist News Legal Media
Former radio DJ denies assaulting Taylor Swift at meet and greet
By Andy Malt | Published on Thursday 1 December 2016
Former radio DJ David Mueller has spoken for the first time about the assault claim made against him by Taylor Swift, which has led to an ongoing legal battle. In an interview this week, he denied her claim that he grabbed her bottom.
The alleged incident occurred backstage at a show in Detroit in 2013, during a meet and greet with fans. Mueller actually went legal first, in 2015, suing the musician for defamation after he lost his job on a local radio station two days after meeting Swift. He claims that a complaint from her security team directly led to him being fired. Swift countersued for assault and battery.
In a deposition obtained by Billboard earlier this year, Swift 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 and no matter how much I scooted over it was still there. It was completely intentional, I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life”.
Although the photograph in question was sealed by the court, TMZ earlier this month shared a picture of Swift, Mueller and his girlfriend Shannon Melcher. Appearing on the 955 Detroit radio station to speak about the photo, Mueller admitted that he had touched Swift during the encounter, but insisted that it had been accidental.
“I’m looking at the photographer and I’m trying to get my right hand, you know, behind Taylor, because Shannon was on the other side of Taylor”, he said, according to Page Six. “My other hand I think was just on my belt or on my pocket, my left hand. So my right hand, I’ve got my hand closed and my palm down, and I reach behind, toward Taylor. Our hands touched and our arms crossed. That’s all I remember. My hand was not touching her body. My hand was never under her skirt. I never grabbed her. My hand was not open”.
Swift’s security guard Greg Dent has said that Mueller actually grabbed Swift “before the photo was taken”, reports BBC Newsbeat, adding that “she reacted, pushed her skirt down, and jumped to the side and went closer to the girl that was with him”.
Mueller now says that he wishes he had received a criminal charge over the incident so that he would get “a chance to defend myself”.
