Taylor Swift Serves Jury Duty

Celebrities are just like us: They skip the MTV Video Music Awards so that they can serve jury duty the following morning. Well, OK, we don't know for sure that's why Taylor Swift was absent from Sunday night's VMAs in New York, but that's what Business Insider figures. We do know for sure that Swift showed up at a Nashville courtroom Monday morning to do her civic duty. She ended up being dismissed as a prospective juror in a case involving rape, because the judge didn't think she could be impartial, considering she currently has a pending civil case involving a DJ who allegedly fondled her backstage during a concert, TMZ reports.

"She asked to be left off out of concern for an upcoming trial in Denver where she was—she used the term 'groped'—by a fan at a meet-and-greet," a Davidson County District Attorney General's Office spokesman tells the AP, adding that Swift told the judge she'd be happy to serve on any other case. As the AP notes, "Before Swift was dismissed from the jury pool on Monday, she took time to chat and take selfies with other potential jurors." (More Taylor Swift stories.)