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Friend of radio host accused of groping Taylor Swift said he was shocked at the allegations

Friend said he’d never seen David Mueller disrespect a woman

DENVER, CO - AUGUST 1:  Danika Worthington - Staff portraits at the Denver Post studio.  (Photo by Eric Lutzens/The Denver Post)
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Ryan Kliesch thought he was being punk’d when he heard the accusation that one of his best friends and co-host had sexually assaulted Taylor Swift.

“I thought Ashton Kutcher was going to come up behind me and I was going to appear on a candid camera show,” he testified Friday.

The two men had been friends since 2001 and served as co-hosts of Ryno and Jackson, which he described as a family show with a Seinfeld-like design. Kliesch said that during that time, he’d never seen Mueller inappropriately touch a woman nor be disrespectful, demeaning or condescending toward women.

Kliesch testified that Mueller consistently said he hadn’t groped Swift and couldn’t believe he’d been accused of doing so.

When Swift’s lawyer Douglas Baldridge took the stand, he asked Kliesch if he was there when the photo was taken, or when security approached Mueller or when their boss Eddie Haskell allegedly told Mueller he had touched Swift’s butt. Kliesch answered no to all questions.

Kliesch testified that Haskell had separately talked to him after their VIP meet-and-greet with Swift.

“He said to me, when he hugged Taylor, he thought she had bicycle shorts under her skirt,” Kliesch said.

Under Baldridge’s questioning, Kliesch said he never reported the conversation to KYGO.

“I really just dismissed a lot of things that Eddie said because, quite honestly, I didn’t believe a lot of things that Eddie said,” Kliesch testified.

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