In late 2015, Taylor Swift countersued a Denver radio host for allegedly groping her during a backstage meet-and-greet at a 2013 concert. The host in question, Robert “Jackson” Mueller, sued Swift for slander a month prior to her countersuit, claiming Swift’s security team accused him of sexually assaulting the pop star — as a result, he lost his job and was banned from future concerts. In his suit, Mueller says he does believe Swift was touched inappropriately at the meet-and-greet, but rather by his boss at the KYGO radio station, a man named Eddie Haskell. However, Swift has maintained her certainty over Mueller being the one who assaulted her, and now her newly released deposition sheds light onto the events that transpired that evening. (While her deposition is now publicly available, the judge and jury overseeing the case agreed that a photo of the alleged groping will be sealed and kept private; Swift’s lawyer argued that the photo would’ve been “shared for scandalous and prurient interests.”)
“Right as the moment came for us to pose for the photo, he 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 said, according to the records obtained by Billboard. “It was completely intentional, I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life.” She continued to elaborate on how distressing the experience was for her. “I remember being frantic, distressed, feeling violated in a way I had never experienced before,” Swift said. “A meet-and-greet is supposed to be a situation where you’re thanking people for coming, you’re supposed to be welcoming people into your home, which is the arena for that day, and for someone to violate that hospitality in that way, I was completely stunned.”
The deposition was filed in the hopes that Swift would win the case, and would thus avoid going to trial. She has previously vowed to donate any money a jury might award her to charitable organizations that work to protect women from sexual assault.
