GropeGate: David Mueller Says Swift 'No Hero'

David Mueller — the former KYGO 98.5 FM Denver radio personality whom a jury found assaulted and battered Taylor Swift by groping her — has spoken out repeatedly since the ruling to defend his innocence and is still publicly commenting on the matter, this time scoffing at Swift's inclusion in Time mag's annual Person of the Year cover.

The cover this year didn't highlight a single individual; rather, it celebrated the "Silence Breakers" — prominent women coming forward about sexual harassment. As reported by TMZ, Mueller thinks Swift doesn't deserve a place in that category.

"They want to make a connection between my lawsuit and these other cases where women are saying they were assaulted, I get it. Because they’re a magazine — they’re trying to sell stuff,” he notes in a video posted Dec. 16, shaking his head. “But is [Swift] a hero? She testified in court because the judge ordered her to ... they made it seem like she had a choice to testify."



According to A Taste of Country, he goes on to say that Swift's attorneys tried to get his claims thrown out: "They weren’t. I never wanted to settle for money. I wanted to clear my name."

Swift had a different take on what transpired in the courtroom, telling Time, "When I testified, I had already been in court all week and had to watch this man’s attorney bully, badger and harass my team including my mother over inane details and ridiculous minutiae, accusing them, and me, of lying. I was angry."

"In that moment, I decided to forego any courtroom formalities and just answer the questions the way it happened. This man hadn’t considered any formalities when he assaulted me, and his lawyer didn’t hold back on my mom — why should I be polite?" she adds.

Swift recalls that at a 2013 meet and greet, Mueller reached his hand up her skirt during a photo opp "and grabbed onto my ass cheek."