On June 2, 2013, KYGO radio host, DJ David Mueller and his girlfriend, Shannon Melcher, attended Taylor Swift's concert during her Red Tour at The Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado at which a meet-and-greet was scheduled to be held backstage prior to the performance. After meeting the singer, the two posed for a photo later recovered by TMZ in November 2016. Later that evening, Swift's security representatives notified KYGO claiming that Mueller had deliberately slid his hand beneath her dress and discreetly groped her from behind before her bodyguard could react as the photo was being taken. As a result, Mueller was recorded the following day as he was questioned by his employers about the incident. Mueller was informed by his superior, Robert Call on June 4th of the termination of his contract with KYGO as a result of changing his story originally denying the accusations and then admitting the assault was accidental.

In more recent events, the former radio host filed a lawsuit against Swift in September 2015 for allegedly defacing his career and reputation. Mueller originally accused Swift of making false claims that lead to the loss of his position at KYGO. Had the plaintiff won the tort case, Mueller would have been awarded $3 million in settlements representing the monetary loss since his unemployment. However, evidence of the plaintiff's questioning by his employers was destroyed and disposed of after Mueller supposedly spilled coffee on the laptop in which the recordings were saved thus rendering them useless. "Luckily," the plaintiff provided his attorney with partial audio clips of the recording prior to the damage of his computer. It was determined that this would mean the full audio recording would not have been in the plaintiff's favor. During this pre-trial, the District Court of Denver, Colorado ruled in favor of the defendant's request for a counter-suit for $1 in damages before a trial by jury as a result of the mishandling of evidence.

On August 14, 2017, the verdict was finally made in favor of Swift thus determining Mueller had in fact sexually assaulted the singer. The $1 in damages symbolized Swift's desire for nothing more than a remission of guilt from her offender.

To those that question the verdict of Mueller v. Swift, it should be noted that if an offender or their attorney were smart, they would have moved quickly to find any reason to be the first to file a lawsuit just as Mueller had. By doing so, it presents the illusion that the victim is at fault and places false doubt in the minds of jurors. With this, the victim is further victimized such as the case of Swift who was subjected to reliving her assault through attending two years worth of trials. However, this also begs the question as to why Mueller waited over two years to finally file the lawsuit in 2015. Perhaps it was in hopes of with the passage of time, his settlement request could be an even greater figure the longer he remained unemployed.

Although Swift's assault was arguably minor, there are far worse assaults happening at this very moment. According to a study administered by RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network), a sexual assault occurs in the U.S. every 98 seconds. Most of which tend to go unreported as Swift's most-likely would have due to it's lesser degree. It appears Mueller may have dug his own grave by drawing even more attention to the assault in his attempt to sue the singer. Not only did he not receive the settlement, but he also received charges of fourth degree sexual assault.

Swift obtained an overwhelming victory over her offender and is planning to utilize her fame to draw greater attention to those who have suffered all degrees of sexual assault. Swift stated, “I acknowledge the privilege that I benefit from in life, in society and in my ability to shoulder the enormous cost of defending myself in a trial like this. My hope is to help those whose voices should also be heard. Therefore, I will be making donations in the near future to multiple organizations that help sexual assault victims defend themselves.”