The latest news in the Kesha and Dr. Luke court battle involves Katy Perry.
According to Variety, which published court documents in the ongoing defamation case Dr. Luke (real name: Lukas Gottwald) has pursued against Kesha, the "Praying" singer once claimed, in text messages to Lady Gaga, that Dr. Luke raped Perry.
Dr. Luke, via a statement from his legal team to Refinery29, vehemently denies the accusation. Further, the music producer's legal team contends that the allegations made by Kesha show that she has caused damage to his reputation.
"Katy Perry herself confirmed that Dr. Luke did not rape her. Kesha's accusation to the contrary — just like her other outrageous lies about Dr. Luke — is baseless and irresponsible, and it is disrespectful to both Katy Perry and Dr. Luke. In his defamation lawsuit against Kesha, Dr. Luke seeks damages for the harm caused by these malicious falsehoods."
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT
Dr. Luke has not been charged with any crime.
For her part, fellow pop star (and former Dr. Luke collaborator) Lady Gaga was subpoenaed by Dr. Luke's legal team in July of 2017, reportedly after she supplied text messages between her and Kesha. The "Applause" singer has long been one of Kesha's biggest celebrity supporters. Gaga agreed to testify on Kesha's behalf in August of 2017.
Per Variety, the just-published documents claim:
"On February 26, 2016 [Kesha] sent a text message to Stefani Germanotta p/k/a/ Lady Gaga which repeated [Kesha’s] false claim that [Luke] had raped her."
It continues:
"[Kesha] also falsely asserted that [Luke] had also raped Kathryn Hudson p/k/a/ Katy Perry... Following this text message conversation, and with [Kesha’s] encouragement, [Lady Gaga] spread negative messages about [Luke] in the press and on social media."
The legal battle between Kesha and Dr. Luke initially began in 2014, when Kesha sued Dr. Luke, seeking to void all their contracts due to her allegations of sexual, physical, and emotional abuse, per Rolling Stone. Dr. Luke countersued for defamation and breach of contract shortly afterwards.
Refinery29 has reached out to representatives for Kesha, Perry, and Gaga. We will update this post should we hear back.