Taylor Swift has been accused of slander in an on-going legal battle with a radio DJ who supposedly groped her backstage at a concert in 2013, it has been revealed.
Swift had originally filed a counter suit against a former US radio host who sued after he was fired due to her claim that he groped her at a meet-and-greet event prior to one of her concerts.
Now, an amended complaint was filed last Thursday (25 February), with Mueller adding two slander counts to his counter-claim, saying Swift’s statements are false and have caused harm to his reputation, profession and standing in the community. If follows recent news that David Mueller, who worked for KYGO-FM, in Denver, Colorado, filed a lawsuit in September against Taylor Swift, alleging he was falsely accused of “lifting Swift’s skirt with his hand and touching her bottom.”
Jordan Hughes/NME
“The contention that Mr. Mueller lifted up Ms. Swift’s skirt and grabbed her bottom, while standing with his girlfriend, in front of Ms. Swift’s photographer and Ms. Swift’s highly trained security personnel, during a company-sponsored, VIP, backstage meet-and-greet, is nonsense,” wrote Mueller’s attorney M. Gabriel McFarland in the amended complaint, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Swift countersued for assault and battery in October 2015, seeking damages arising from “the undisputed fact that a sexual assault was committed against” her.
The incident allegedly happened prior to Swift’s gig at Denver’s Pepsi Center on June 2, 2013. The accusation resulted in the radio personality being fired from his job. While Mueller denies the accusations and suggests a case of mistaken identity, Swift’s counter argument states that his employers had been given “evidence” of his crime.
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Swift’s original counter-lawsuit read “Mueller’s newfound claim that he is the ‘wrong guy’ and, therefore, his termination from KYGO was unjustified, is specious. Ms Swift knows exactly who committed the assault, it was Mueller.”
Swift requested a jury trial and stated that from the lawsuit would be donated to charities “dedicated to protecting women from similar acts of sexual assault and personal disregard”.
Mueller, who has worked in radio for 20 years, went by the name ‘Jackson’ on the ‘Ryno and Jackson’ morning show on KYGO-FM, where he says his base annual salary was $150,000 (£97,000).