The American country/pop music starlet took a break from celebrating the one year anniversary of her enormously successful fourth studio effort, 1989, to deal with something a little more troubling: sexual assault.
Swift filed a counterclaim Wednesday against a former Denver radio host who sued her after he said he lost his job because of “false accusations” that he inappropriately touched her during a photo session.
David Mueller sued Swift in a Denver U.S. District Court Denver in September, saying he was allegedly falsely accused by a member of her security team of grabbing the singer’s buttocks backstage at the Pepsi Center on June 2, 2013. Mueller, who denied any inappropriate contact, claimed that he was fired two days later from his job at KYGO radio.
According to Swift’s counter argument, Mueller claims that one of his superiors at the radio station committed the alleged assault. But Swift, 25, accuses Mueller solely.
“Mueller’s newfound claim that he is the ‘wrong guy’ and, therefore, his termination from KYGO was unjustified, is specious,” Swift’s attorneys wrote in the counterclaim. “Ms. Swift knows exactly who committed the assault — it was Mueller.”
Attorneys for Swift say in court filings that the singer was “surprised, upset, offended, and alarmed” when Mueller groped her during the pre-concert meet-and-greet. They added that Mueller did not merely brush his hand against Swift while posing for a photograph, but lifted up her skirt.
This incident has been the subject of numerous satirical comments on social media; as Taylor “suing” others has become sort of a running joke, especially on Twitter. Regardless of any of these usually baseless claims, sexual assault is no joking matter.
Sexual assault has received a considerable amount of attention by the music industry in the past year specifically, especially with the release of Lady Gaga’s Till It Happens To You and American pop star Kesha’s (formerly Ke$ha) current sexual assault lawsuit against music producer Doctor Luke.
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