Taylor Swift claims that David Mueller, a former KYGO radio host, groped her at a backstage meet-and-greet in 2013. Mueller insists Swift is falsely accusing him — that it was his then-boss, Eddie Haskell, who not only committed the crime but bragged about it later that night — and has added slander to his existing lawsuit against Swift.
Mueller first sued Swift in September, alleging that her accusations got him fired. One month later, Swift countersued for assault and battery. According to Swift’s countersuit, at the photo session before she played Denver’s Pepsi Center during her Red Tour, “Mueller intentionally reached under her skirt, and groped with his hand an intimate part of her body in an inappropriate manner, against her will, and without her permission. Mueller did not merely brush his hand against Ms. Swift while posing for the photograph: he lifted her skirt and groped her.”
Swift has requested a jury trial; any financial reward from the lawsuit, she has said, will be donated to charities that are “dedicated to protecting women from similar acts of sexual assault and personal disregard.”
READ MORE: Taylor Swift Sues Radio Host: ‘He Lifted Her Skirt And Groped Her’
According to Mueller’s amended complaint, his contract with KYGO was terminated on June 4, two days after the meet-and-greet. It was just a few months into his two-year contract with KYGO. He was earning $150,000 a year with the potential for bonuses and appearance fees, according to court documents.
He “steadfastly maintains that no inappropriate contact of any kind occurred between him and Ms. Swift” and describes having undergone a polygraph examination “during which he responded ‘No’ to questions about whether he had touched Ms. Swift or put his hand under her skirt.” (“Mr. Mueller invited Ms. Swift to undergo a similar polygraph examination,” the complaint goes on. “She declined.”) Mueller also lists a handful of the “hundreds of celebrities” with whom he has interacted and been photographed, including Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez, and Beyonce.
He claims that Swift and the other defendants, which include her parents, “knew” their accusations against him “were false or recklessly or negligently disregarded their falsity.” Haskell, Mueller says, is the one who groped Swift, and told Mueller that he thought Swift “must wear bicycle shorts under the stage outfits.”
Swift’s countersuit states that the star “is not confused in the slightest” about whether Haskell, “her long-term business acquaintance,” is the one who groped her. “She has held thousands of meet and greet events for both fans and radio station personnel. In those thousands of events, she has been inappropriately groped one time — by Mueller — a radio personality.”
In addition to fighting her own legal battle against a man who allegedly violated her, Swift has publicly demonstrated her support for Kesha, donating $250,000 to the “Tik Tok” singer “as a show of support” to help with her financial needs during this “trying time.” That is, as Kesha continues her efforts to get out of her contract with producer Lukasz “Dr. Luke” Gottwald. Kesha alleges a pattern of rape and abuse by Gottwald that nearly killed her. In June, Kesha added Sony Music as a defendant in her case against Gottwald, claiming “Dr. Luke’s proclivity for abusive conduct was open and obvious to [Sony Music Entertainment] executives, who either knew of the conduct and turned a blind eye, failed to investigate Dr. Luke’s conduct, failed to take any corrective action, or actively concealed Dr. Luke’s abuse.”