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Lawyers ‘glad’ they didn’t have to cross examine Taylor Swift as pop star’s sassy testimony hits headlines

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By Katie King on

‘He had a handful of my ass’

Pop star Taylor Swift has delighted social media this weekend with her no beating around the bush testimony.

Last week, Swift took the stand in a defamation lawsuit brought against her by DJ David Mueller. The former radio host sued Swift for $3 million (£2.3 million) after she claimed he grabbed her bum while posing for a fan photo during a meet-and-greet (pictured). Mueller said her allegations were not only false, but caused him to lose his job. She counterclaimed for $1 (77p).

Image via TMZ

Though Judge William Martinez has now dismissed the claim against Swift, the case continues to make headlines. This is thanks to 27-year-old Swift’s brassy comebacks to Mueller’s lawyer, Gabe McFarland — a selection of which are reported in Glamour.

To give you a flavour, Swift — when asked if she was critical of her bodyguard for not preventing the assault — said to McFarland:

I’m critical of your client sticking his hand under my skirt and grabbing my ass.

The lawyer later asked Swift if it’s possible Mueller was not the sex assault assailant, to which the Shake it off singer replied: “He had a handful of my ass. I know it was him.” And, when University of Denver graduate McFarland questioned why Swift’s skirt showed no signs of being interfered with in the photo, she unwaveringly said: “because my ass is located in the back of my body.”

Swift’s response to a query about why no one else witnessed the alleged assault has prompted particularly noisy social media applause. She said: “The only person who would have a direct eye line is someone laying underneath my skirt, and we didn’t have anyone positioned there.”

And, pushing formalities to one side, Swift called Mueller’s lawyer by his first name when asked why you can’t see anything visibly inappropriate happening in her photo with Mueller:

Gabe, this is a photo of him with his hand up my skirt — with his hand on my ass. You can ask me a million questions — I’m never going to say anything different. I never have said anything different.

Though some have lambasted Swift for “over-familiarly” calling McFarland by his first name, it’s fair to say Twitter has, overall, praised Swift for her “dignity” and “directness”.

However, with cross examination the preserve of the criminal bar, the lawyers of Twitter have provided a different point of view. Blogging barrister Matthew Scott tweeted:

Paul Crampin, from Carmelite Chambers, responded:

That said, Adam Wagner, human rights barrister, was more forthcoming in his praise for Swift. He described her cross examination responses as “excellent”:

Multi-Grammy award winner Swift and the courtroom have proved a social media match made in heaven across the years. On a Mueller/Swift side note, did anyone see the reaction to the singer’s court sketch?

This time last year, Twitter was flooded with juror selfies when Pennsylvania-born Swift was called for jury duty.

And who could forget this classic from the Legal Cheek archives?

In November 2015, a Californian judge used lyrics penned by Swift to throw out a plagiarism claim made against the music star.

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