Taylor Swift’s mother has testified at her daughter’s sexual harassment trial, telling the courtroom she knew “something was horribly wrong” when she first saw a photo of the alleged incident.
In a tearful address, Andrea Swift said a photo showing the 2013 meeting of her daughter and radio DJ David “Jackson” Mueller captured him grabbing her buttocks.
The photo, taken at a backstage meet-and-greet at a Denver arena, shows Mueller standing next to the singer with his arm in a low position. His hand is obscured by Swift.
Taylor Swift claims that Mueller reached under her skirt and groped her.
Mueller vehemently denies that claim, telling the courtroom yesterday that “my hand came into contact with part of her body” but “I felt what seemed to be a rib cage or ribs.”
Andrea Swift, who was not present at the time of the alleged incident, disagrees. She says “there’s something going on in [Taylor’s] eyes” in the photo that is suggestive of being groped.
Yesterday, Mueller’s attorney Gabriel McFarland said the photo did not show Swift’s skirt “ruffled, rumbled, affected in any form or fashion.”
Andrea Swift also denied that claim, instead insisting that the skirt’s stiff material may have obscured the position Mueller’s hand.
At one point during the hearing, Swift gestured to Mueller, saying “he sexually assaulted her. Right there, that guy.”
In 2015, Mueller sued the singer, alleging that her camp had pressured radio station KYGO to fire him. Swift countersued, claiming that the station ended his employment as the result of their own investigation into the incident. That suit lead to the allegations of sexual assault being heard in civil court.
Her mother said that they didn’t take the allegations to police immediately after the incident as “I did not want the incident to define her life,” and “I did not want her to have to live through the endless memes and gifs.”
The trial is ongoing.
