Why Taylor Swift’s Unflinching Testimony Matters

America music star on the grill.
    On Thursday, Taylor Swift took the stand in a Denver, Colo. courtroom to deliver much-anticipated testimony about an incident she says took place at a fan meet-and-greet event in 2013. The pop star stated that during a routine photo op, former DJ David Mueller slipped his hand under her dress and “grabbed [her] ass underneath [her] skirt.” At the time, Swift was just 23 years old. The incident resulted in Mueller being fired from his job at Colorado radio station KYGO-FM.
Mueller, 55, sued Swift in 2015 for damages, saying that the singer had falsely accused him of groping her and had, according to Reuters, “pressured station management to oust him from his $150,000-per-year job.” One month later, Swift, now 27, then counter-sued Mueller for $1 for assault and battery. According to EW, the countersuit stipulated that the suit would “serve as an example to other women who may resist publicly reliving similar outrageous and humiliating acts.”
In a deposition, Swift reportedly said that the groping “was not an accident, it was completely intentional, and I have never been so sure of anything in my life.”
Swift carried that certainty into her testimony on Thursday, where she testified that after the groping, “it was like a light switched off in my personality .”
Mueller’s lawyer, Gabriel McFarland, attempted to pick apart Swift’s narrative of the 2013 incident. Swift was not having it.
Some highlights include....
When McFarland suggested that Swift should be critical of her bodyguard for not stepping in and stopping the alleged assault, she responded: “I’m critical of your client sticking his hand under my skirt and grabbing my ass.”
When McFarland showed the photo of Mueller allegedly grabbing Swift from behind, he asked why the front of her dress wasn’t out of place if what she said took place actually happened. Swift said : “Because my ass is located in the back of my body.”
When asked about Mueller’s firing after the incident and her role in it, she said: “I am not going to allow your client to make me feel like it is any way my fault because it isn’t,” also adding, “he and you are suing me and I’m being blamed for the unfortunate events of his life that are a product of his decisions, not mine.”
When it was suggested that perhaps someone other than Mueller had groped her, Swift shot back: “He had a handful of my ass. I know it was him.”