Taylor Swift's Butt-Grope Photo Leaks

TMZ Photo

A photograph Taylor Swift claims is evidence that a former radio DJ sexually assaulted her has been leaked.

The Daily Mail reports the photo was taken at a meet-and-greet event at Denver's Pepsi Center in June 2013, the photo published by TMZ shows David Mueller's right arm extended behind Swift. While his hand is not visible, it appears level with her rear.

Mueller initially sued Swift for slander and accused her of getting him fired from his job at Colorado Country 98.5 KYGO 98.5 FM, where he had worked since 2013.

But Swift counter-sued, stating in a deposition that Mueller 'reached up under my skirt and grabbed my ass right when I was having to pose for a photo'.

Mueller claims it was a co-worker of his who assaulted Swift and that he is wrongly accused.
It is unclear how the photograph was leaked, but Swift's legal team had successfully filed a motion to seal the image in order to protect her privacy.

Lawyers pressed Swift to tell them whether or not the photo taken with Mueller during the meet-and-greet in June 2013 was the moment he groped her.

It was noted in the deposition that her skirt is not ruffled or messed up in the photograph.

Swift said it would be impossible for her to definitively answer whether that photo captured that moment.

Details of the assault first came to light when Swift showed up for jury duty in Nashville, Tennessee in August. She said she didn't think she could be unbiased in an aggravated rape, kidnapping and domestic abuse trial because of her own experience. A judge decided she couldn't be impartial and she was dismissed from jury duty.

Mueller has denied groping Swift.

“The contention that Mr. Mueller lifted up Ms. Swift’s skirt and grabbed her bare ‘ass,’ while standing with his girlfriend, in front of Ms. Swift’s photographer and other staff, as well as Ms. Swift’s highly trained security personnel, during an employer-sponsored, VIP, backstage meet-and-greet, defies credibility,” Mueller’s attorney, M. Gabriel McFarland of Golden, wrote in a Nov. 1 court brief.

Eventually, KYGO fired Mueller for violating the station’s morality clause.