Kesha goes to court in NYC over clash with producer Dr. Luke
Watching tearfully from a courtroom audience, pop star Kesha lost a bid Friday to be freed from her contract with a top record producer she says drugged, sexually abused and psychologically tormented her.
But the ruling is far from the end of the platinum-selling singer’s clash with hitmaker Dr. Luke, who denies her claims and says she’s smearing him to try to shirk her contract. Friday’s decision wasn’t the final word on their court fight in New York, to say nothing of related lawsuits in California and Tennessee. Kesha declined to comment as she left court.
“I cannot work with this monster,” Kesha said in a sworn statement in August that accused Dr. Luke of raping her a decade ago after giving her a pill that knocked her out, browbeating her to lose weight to the point where she didn’t eat solid food for eight days, and holding her career hostage because she spoke up.
But Dr. Luke and his attorneys say the singer and her camp are trying to pressure him into letting her out of her contract.
Dr. Luke, born Lukasz Gottwald, has produced hits by artists including Katy Perry, Rihanna, Britney Spears, Pitbull, Flo Rida and Miley Cyrus. Kesha, whose full name is Kesha Rose Sebert, was an 18-year-old unknown from Nashville when she signed a contract with one of his companies in 2005.
Five years later, “Tik Tok” was the No. 1 song in the country. She’s released two albums, most recently in 2012. Kesha continues to play some shows, but her lawyers say the contract has essentially stalled her career because she can’t stand working with her accused rapist.
Lawyers for Dr. Luke and Sony Music Entertainment – his partner in Kesha’s record label, Kemosabe Records – say she’s violating the agreement by not making the remaining three of five promised albums.
They say if she honors it, she won’t have to work with him personally.
Kesha’s lawyer, Mark Geragos, asked a judge Friday to bar enforcement of the contract while the case plays out. Manhattan state Supreme Court Justice Shirley Kornreich turned down the request, saying Kesha “is being given the opportunity to record.”
The birthday bunch
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