The DJ accused of groping Taylor Swift’s butt during a meet-and-greet in Colorado says that he did make physical contact with the singer — but denied grabbing her rear end.
Appearing on radio show “Mojo in the Morning,” David Mueller recalled the circumstances, as he saw them, that occurred while a photo that serves as a key piece of evidence was being taken.
According to Mueller, he and Swift made incidental physical contact, but nothing beyond that.
“I’m trying to get my right hand, you know, behind Taylor, because [Mueller’s girlfriend] Shannon [Melcher] was on the other side … My other hand was, I think, was just on my belt or on my pocket,” Mueller said, according to audio published by TMZ.
“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.”
Pressed on whether Mueller was touching Swift’s body at the time the photo was taken, Mueller asserted, “My hand was not touching her body, but um … this is what I can tell you. My hand was never under her skirt. I never grabbed her. My hand was not open.”
Mueller went on to lament that he hadn’t been arrested after the alleged event, because a criminal case would have given him a forum to defend himself.
“This is actually the worst possible scenario for me, because if I was arrested, I would have my day in court. You’re innocent until proven guilty,” Mueller said. “I never got a chance to defend myself. I never got my day in court.”
Mueller’s account differs radically from that of Swift, who testified in a deposition earlier this year that Mueller “grabbed my bare ass” and asserted, “It was not an accident, it was completely intentional, and I have never been so sure of anything in my life.”
“Right as the moment came for us to pose for the photo, [Mueller] 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,” Swift also testified. “I remember being frantic, distressed, feeling violated in a way I had never experienced before … for someone to violate that hospitality in that way, I was completely stunned.”
Swift’s security guard, Greg Dent, backed up the singer’s account in his own deposition.
“Well, before the photo was taken is when I saw him go to put his arm around her and him lift up her skirt,” Dent testified. “She reacted, pushed her skirt down, and jumped to the side and went closer to the girl that was with him.”
Swift was sued by Mueller in September 2015. Mueller says he was fired after being accused of “grabbing Ms. Swift’s bottom” at the meet-and-greet at Denver’s Pepsi Center in June 2013. The radio personality, who goes by the professional name “Jackson,” has adamantly denied the accusation. Swift subsequently filed a countersuit against Mueller.
Mueller has denied the groping accusation in court filings, saying that photographic evidence supports that he did not inappropriately touch Swift.
“This is particularly true given that Ms. Swift’s skirt is in place and is not being lifted by Mr. Mueller’s hand in the alleged photograph of the incident, and given that Ms. Swift acknowledged in her deposition that Mr. Mueller is not touching her inappropriately in the photograph,” the court documents read.