A New York City judge has ruled pop star Kesha defamed Dr. Luke by claiming he raped Katy Perry, marking a key point in the ongoing legal battle between Kesha and her former producer.
Variety reports New York Supreme Court Judge Jennifer G. Schechter today sided with Dr. Luke, aka Lukasz Gottwald, in a partial summary judgment. She found Kesha’s allegation that Dr. Luke raped Katy Perry – an allegation Kesha sent via text to Lady Gaga – was “a false statement.”
In 2018, Perry testified under oath that Dr. Luke had never raped her. Citing that deposition, Schecter found there was “no evidence whatsoever that Gottwald raped Katy Perry or that Katy Perry, whose sworn testimony is unrefuted, must not be believed.”
More to the point, Schecter ruled “Kesha made a false statement to Lady Gaga about Gottwald that was defamatory per se.”
In the same summary judgment, Kesha was ordered to pay Dr. Luke US$370,000 (AU$556,000) in interest on song royalties owed to his company.
The ruling is just the latest development in a six-year legal stoush between Kesha and Dr. Luke.
Kesha alleged Dr. Luke sexually and emotionally abused her in a 2014 lawsuit. In turn, Dr. Luke sued Kesha for defamation, claiming she fabricated the claims to escape their contract. Kesha dropped her case in 2016.
The final decision on the defamation case is yet to come, with Schecter saying it’s not up to her to decide on the core issue.
“Kesha and Gottwald have very different accounts about what happened on the night at issue,” she wrote.
“The court cannot decide, as a matter of law on papers and without any assessment of credibility, who should be believed… That decision is for the jury.”
“Dr. Luke looks forward to the trial of his case where he will prove that Kesha’s other false statements about him were equally false and defamatory,” Gottwald’s lawyer Christine Lepera said.
In a statement obtained by Pitchfork, Kesha’s legal team said “We disagree with the Court’s rulings. We plan to immediately appeal.”
You can read Schecter’s partial summary judgment on the Variety site.
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