WARNING: this post details alleged incidents of sexual assault.
Following last Friday’s court decision to deny Kesha an injunction that would allow the singer to break her recording contract with Dr. Luke and Sony – sending the hashtag #FreeKesha trending, and Taylor Swift to gift her $250,000 to support her “during this trying time” – Dr Luke’s lawyers have finally released a statement.
Kesha (real name: Kesha Rose Sebert) has previously accused Dr Luke (real name: Lukasz Gottwald) of subjecting her to years of sexual, physical, verbal and emotion abuse, filing a complaint against in him 2014:
She’d been petitioning the court to cancel her contract with Sony, saying that her situation there is untenable; when the judge ruled against that last Friday, she broke down in court. Sony has claimed they will continue to promote her music and let her work with another producer, but her lawyer Mark Geragos dismissed this as an “illusory” promise, saying that Sony has more invested in hitmaker Gottwald and will sideline her career (which has been on hold since October 2014).
standing with @KeshaRose through this traumatic, deeply unfair time. send good vibes her way everyone
— Lorde (@lorde) February 19, 2016
Disgusted by anyone in power positions abusing their authority. My heart breaks for Kesha and all people affected by this toxicity. Fuck.
— HALSEY (@halsey) February 19, 2016
Now, Dr Luke’s lawyers have at last addressed the public interest around the case and released a statement, dismissing her claims as “outright lies that have been advanced to extort a contract renegotiation and money,” and that she and her family have subjected Dr Luke to “trial by Twitter”.
They also take aim at the #FreeKesha hashtag, although they avoid actually naming it: “The New York County Supreme Court on Friday found that Kesha is already ‘free’ to record and release music without working with Dr. Luke as a producer is she doesn’t want to. Any claim that she isn’t ‘free’ is a myth.”
Read the full statement below:
“The New York County Supreme Court on Friday found that Kesha is already “free” to record and release music without working with Dr. Luke as a producer if she doesn’t want to. Any claim that she isn’t “free” is a myth. The sound decision Friday by the Court in denying Kesha’s motion for an injunction made it clear Kesha’s allegations of purported abuse were unconvincing and that she had no basis to void record contracts and copyrights. Dr. Luke and his companies invested in Kesha’s success through their contributions, Sony Music has already spent over $11 million promoting Kesha, and Sony Music and its label Kemosabe Records are committed to continuing to promote her work.
“More significantly, the Court also noted multiple times that her vague abuse allegations were devoid of factual detail, and that there was no evidence, whether from doctors or anyone else, to support them.
“Tellingly, Kesha never reported any purported abuse or rape to any law enforcement authority, or even to Sony Music, and further swore under oath in another matter, while accompanied by her team of lawyers, that it never occurred. The goal of Kesha’s counsel throughout has been to obtain a more lucrative contract through a shameless campaign of outrageous claims they will never stand behind in a court of law.
“As Dr. Luke has said repeatedly, the allegations against him are outright lies that have been advanced to extort a contract renegotiation and money. Kesha and her counsel have cavalierly subjected Dr. Luke and his family to trial by Twitter, using a vicious smear campaign to ruin his reputation for financial gain while failing to support their claims. Kesha to date has never verified the allegations in this case -even when given the opportunity in her affidavit. Nor has she ever offered a credible explanation as to why she would have signed a second recording agreement, recorded two albums and an EP and signed a publishing deal with Dr. Luke after allegedly being sexually abused. It will further be shown that the incidents alleged never happened.”
FYI, here is the original complaint filed by Kesha in 2014 (the full document can be read HERE.)
