As we’ve been covering, Kesha lost her injunction to break her contract with her alleged abuser Dr. Luke on Friday. Following the ruling, there’s been an outpouring of support for Kesha online, especially from some high-profile women in music. It feels like some of these women (Kelly Clarkson?) have their own stories about Dr. Luke, so I do wonder if we’re going to hear much more about this in the weeks and months to come. Over the weekend, Taylor Swift confirmed that she had donated $250,000 to Kesha, although I don’t know if that’s for Kesha personally or for Kesha’s legal defense. I thought that was a generous and well-executed move on Swifty’s part (despite what Demi Lovato had to say about it), and as it turns out, Taylor is basically the only person donating money to Kesha.
Kesha has run out of money to fund what has become a very expensive legal battle … and, no surprise, she’s blaming her financial woes on Dr. Luke. Sources connected with the singer tell us, aside from the fact that Kesha “has been on ice for 3 years,” they say Dr. Luke has withheld royalties from her. As a result, she has virtually no income. We’re told Kesha did not solicit money, and Taylor Swift gave her the $250k on her own accord. Our Kesha sources say so far, no other celebs have donated money.
Dr. Luke has withheld Kesha’s royalties? How is that even legally possible? Further evidence that the judge in Kesha’s case didn’t know her ass from a hole in the ground. And it might be time for Kesha’s legal defense to get a GoFundMe page or something.
Anyway, Dr. Luke is really butthurt about the groundswell of support for Kesha online. He’s super-mad that Kesha has fans and that people believe Kesha’s story and that he’s being found guilty with “trial by Twitter.” So he and his lawyers issued this statement:
“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.”
Basically, he’s really mad that people have the free will to decide that they’re on Kesha’s side. For what it’s worth, I don’t think Kesha is stoking the internet flames, I think it’s possible she’s just as surprised by the outpouring of support online. Us Weekly points out that Kesha’s lawyer, Mark Geragos, has previously said that Dr. Luke “threatened that if she ever mentioned the rape to anyone, he would shut her career down, take away all her publishing and recording rights, and otherwise destroy not only her life but her entire family’s lives as well.” Which is why Kesha never went to the police or to a doctor to report her alleged rape.
And finally, Dr. Luke was on Twitter yesterday defending himself, attacking Kesha and slamming Kesha’s lawyer, Mark Geragos. You can read his whole Twitter defense here.
I didn’t rape Kesha and I have never had sex with her. Kesha and I were friends for many years and she was like my little sister.
— Dr. Luke Doctor Luke (@TheDoctorLuke) February 22, 2016
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.
I’m not too crazy about her attorney. But good luck to her.
This whole thing is a terrible mess and I am so glad there has been a public outpouring of support. I also hope that it comes to something. The Guardian had an excellent article on this yesterday as well.
I hope there’s a way for her to get her royalties – I don’t even understand how that is legal.
#Team Kesha
Poor Kesha! I’m glad she’s being supported by everyone, & you’re right how is it even legal to withheld her royalties?! Say what you will about TSwift but that money is helping Kesha in a way.
I don’t know too much about this Dr. Luke, but for so many people to jump on team Kesha, I think says that maybe there’s a history with this guy and other celebs.
They aren’t usually big on supporting each other and to see the way that everyone is getting involved is a great thing.
I’ve been a fan of Keshas from the time she told a story about being at a Paris Hilton house party. Kesha was in the closet and threw up all over Paris’ clothes n shoes.
Frankly I think that there is not enough information that is accurately representing both sides. A few details that have come out are disturbing and if true not favorable to Keisha. This is one case I wish support would be withheld until the details are known.
@em. I agree! (Well not favorable to both parties). Something’s weird.
The deposition video she gave a few years ago where she explicitly states under oath that Dr Luke did not sexually assault her is concerning. While I would like to believe someone who comes forward with these kinds of allegations, that deposition certainly makes her case regarding the sexual assault allegations much more difficult. And while victims of assault are not perfect victims, it usually relates to forgetting a few details here and there or still maintaining contact with the assailant after the incident or incidents happened, not attending a court proceeding with legal counsel and specifically denying the sexual assault. Evidence under oath is always taken seriously and now saying that it was a lie a few years and now it’s true will be an immense hurdle in this legal battle.
Ugh, this whole thing is horrible. It must be awful to watch everything you’ve earned over years of touring and chart success to evaporate in legal bills… And that’s even leaving aside the awfulness of WHY she wants out of the contract in the first place.
Lena Dunham’s piece about this in the latest Lenny newsletter is really great, I thought. Even if you’re not a fan of Lena, it’s worthwhile reading.
do you have a link to that? i cant find it on the site.
Well that’s rich to know because she needs to do the same about her buddy Terry Richardson. He’s has been accused of the same crap.
Good quality point.
It’s ok when an open and progressive liberal does it. When it’s not an open and progressive liberal, and that person is part of a major corporation, the pitchforks can come out.
Why are you politicizing this? Who knows what Dr. Luke’s politics are?
Gross @ Jane, that you would politicize this. Just gross.
Didn’t she molest her sister?
I did a little bit of research on this case yesterday and I’m not quite convinced she has good legal representation. Dr Luke is clearly a nasty piece of work and hope other victims come out of the woodwork to support Kesha (i believe her).
All I’m saying that if she’d had a good lawyer and maybe took a different approach then things might have gone better for her. The fact that he’s with holding royalties is dodgy as f*k and could/should have been used in the case against him and Sony. Plus Sony are well known for not allowing artists out of their contracts early – just ask Prince and George Michael.
I haven’t seen the pleadings but I would hope that they include the withholding of royalties as part of the breach of contract action against Sony and Dr Luke.
But this wouldn’t be dealt with in the injunction, it will be part if the trial (if included in the pleadings )
I am surprised that Taylor is the only one who has helped with legal fees. Maybe the others who provided Twitter support can donate some cash too. They are all in the business and know more than the general public that it will take a protracted legal battle to fix this.
Artists are VERY frequently underpaid for royalties. They have to pay for an audit themselves (which can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and take years). After they find out how much they are owed, then the artist is usually offered a settlement, which is a fraction of the money they are actually owed. Even very powerful artists with highly paid attorneys are underpaid regularly. Its a dirty little system.
Funny I did some research and was more sympathetic to Dr. Luke. It appears that he has been tried and convicted in the media and I really hope that he is guilty otherwise…
If this guy really has done all these things she’s accusing him of, then why is she bothering with civil court and not pressing criminal charges? Is it because she knows she’d never win? Surely she has some kind of evidence, and, if he’s done this to others, could get other people to speak up.i get that it’s a great way to publicly ruin him in the court of opinion, but it does nothing criminally. Like the legalesey posters in yesterday’s post, the judges can only work with the facts, not accusations.
Pressing criminal charges is an extremely dicey game as the victim of sexual assault and/or rape. Your main evidence is going to be your testimony, which juries consistently disbelieve or do not consider credible, unless you also have physical evidence e.g. a rape kit carried out by a medical professional, etc. If you’re in a situation which isn’t a super clear-cut ‘stranger in the alleyway’ rape where most victims would go straight to the police and have a check-up and rape kit done – which is the majority of rapes, committed by people known to the victim and often in intimate relationships with them – then it’s unlikely that you’re in the frame of mind of ‘I was just raped/assaulted’ and less likely to go to a sexual assault crisis centre for a check-up and rape kit. You rely on your testimony in court, which is considered less credible by the jury, and your attacker goes free.
Somehow I doubt Kesha has enough evidence to prove allegations which happened years ago, and which she might have tried to endure for the sake of her career or possibly couldn’t realise what they were because she trusted and obviously had some kind of friendly working relationship with Luke.
A civil case focussed on Sony providing a hostile work environment, however, is much more winnable as it’s less reliant on he-said-she-said. Hopefully Kesha has kept emails and correspondence from Sony which can help her case.
@Sloaney: What do you consider to be “evidence” of rape? Especially years later? It’s really not that easy.
Sorry, I really haven’ t followed her case. Aren’t there other things she’s accusing him of that she could press charges for? Withholding royalties, etc? I realize it’s hard to prosecute rape, but if she could get him criminally charged with something it would help the civil case so she could get out of her contract.
I agree with Sloaney, she needs to file criminal charges for something, anything. I cant see how you can void a contract based on criminal allegations that have never even been laid before the authorities. Which is not to say that I dont believe her but rather this is how the process works (rightfully so, imagine if all I had to do get out of contractual obligations is say that you committed a crime against me).
Rape trials are draining but honestly now that the incidents have been introduced into the contract matter, thats not something she can escape if she hopes to win.
Maybe because she just suffered something very horrific, could not contemplate or cope with this fact and was vulnerable, confused and frightened?
For anyone who wants to feel awful for the rest of the day a rape case was tried and a man convicted here in Ireland in 2009, on the day of his sentencing 50 (yes 50!) local men lined up in court to shake his hand and some even hugged him, they the sat in the front row awaiting the judge’s sentence. All this happened in front of this man’s victim, who was known and a neighbour to some of those men that consoled her rapist. These men included the local parish priest. This might give you some incite as to why women do not always come forward. To top it all off this rape was caught on cctv footage.
Link to the above: http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/people-queued-to-shake-this-sex-attackers-hand-108061.html
http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/priest-id-defend-sex-attacker-in-court-again-26592508.html
Zapp- That turn my stomach. Incomprehensible.
I totally agree. That wasn’t where I was going. See my post above this.
because civil suits have a MUCH MUCH lower burden of proof. So yes it is her only recourse after years of keeping silent. There’s no evidence to be gathered when she felt she couldn’t go to a doctor at the very least. So there’s no way she would get a conviction.
Wasn’t Prince fighting Warner Bros, not Sony? Also, unless Luke is the head of Sony’s accounting department, I don’t see how he can withhold her royalties.
This feels like a big story is brewing. Dr Luke is clearly scared of her gaining any momentum thanks to Taylor. But I read somewhere else that until recently, he was insisting Kesha had to record with him. That requirement was only dropped very recently (I think I read in Nov Sony was insisting he still produce her work).
It’s not like she’s La Lohan’d all of this. It’s been fairly low profile…she hasn’t done media rounds and IIRC she didn’t even come out with it until after she finished rehab.
Maybe Mark Geragos is working for free.
I think Taylor did the smart thing. This is an ongoing lawsuit and while we all believe Kesha, these kinds of things are messy (in the sense of a lot of he said/she said) and difficult to prove (see: Bill Cosby). So Taylor opens the door for others to donate money but doesn’t wade in with a statement that could then be used against her at a later date.
I totally believe Kesha. It’s just so entirely plausible. I believe her for the same reasons I believed every little boy calling Michael Jackson a pedophile.
+1
The picture of her crying in court is stuck in my head, & it’s so unfair that shes’ suffering more because Sony & this guy (i refuse to write that nickname). Sony knows what’s going on & they’re still supporting that as*hole so they can do whatever they want. Just let her out of her contract instead of torturing her saying that she can choose any other producer but still work for them. She doesn’t want to work with Sony because they won’t promote her music, she doesn’t want to be around him & she certainly doesn’t want to be in a company who represents a guy who can get away with it because he has a power in the music industry.
I believe Kesha too, and I believed those little boys, I still do 🙁
What Taylor did was actually VERY brave. Her label, Big Machine, has a joint venture with Dr. Luke’s Prescription Songs, allowing them to co-publish.
http://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/publishing/1558463/big-machine-music-dr-lukes-prescription-form-joint-venture
But Big Machine Records clarified that Taylor Swift has nothing to do with Big Machine Publishing. And Swift is basically why Big Machine Records is of any value. They follow her lead, mainly, and she controls her own career.
http://www.mtv.com/news/2743898/editors-note-taylor-swift-dr-luke-and-big-machine-music/
Why do people still resort to the “but she didn’t go to the cops!!!” line to “””prove””” that xyz never occurred? I was sexually harrassed at work and made a report to my supervisor about it but had to endure the whole office making “jokes” about the fact that i dared speak up for myself and SO. MANY. PEOPLE said that i was “overreacting” or “uptight” and “it’s not sexual harrassment, just take it as a compliment.” It completely put me off the whole reporting thing because people will NEVER let you forget it. I can’t imagine what it’s like for a rape victim to have to go through the same type of incessant questioning and snarky remarks, especially if the victim doesn’t have as much power as her abuser!
All my love to Kesha. I’m sure she’s heartened to see the support she has from everyone, fan or otherwise.
Compare this with the media coverage of the Jian Gomeshi trial in Canada. I am maybe not reading a wide enough survey, but I find the media conversation infinitely more sympathetic (to the women) and informed than in the States.
But still, with Jian’s case people are side-eyeing the victims and saying “oh but she continued to talk to him after, she emailed him…she must be lying”. Jian was totally grooming his victims, stockpiling info like emails and texts to use later in case they complained or reported him.
Yeah definitely. I just read some really smart responses, even from some politician (I feel like that kind of commentary wouldn’t come from a US politician way too afraid of alienating a constituent).
Which is even more reason for her to do a criminal trial and not a civil one. She’s putting it all out there in public anyway. If the accusations are true, then this guy needs to be locked up, not twitter hated for a few days and forgotten about.
Criminal rape cases, especially years after the fact, are hard to prove.
Idealistically, I would love to see this man incarcerated, however jail time for rapists is rare—that within itself is a travesty.
I don’t blame Kesha for not coming forward initially: 1) this guy was already established in the industry 2) by coming forward she was also jeapordizing her career as established producers are sought after and backed by various companies 3) rape truly is the only crime where the victim’s integrity is put on trial 😒
If she had came forward and it was dismissed, she’d be labeled as difficult and untrustworthy, let’s not even touch on the shame and guilt survivors are forced to contend with—I speak as one myself.
The HARDEST thing about rape is the shame and blame you place on yourself, even though you know with absolute certainty that it isn’t your fault, you still feel like it is.
People who say why didn’t she come forward then are part of the problem, even if it’s not intentional on their part, they’re essentially saying you let it slide—it’s more blame just on a different level.
Which is why I think she needs to try pressing charges for something else, like the royalties. A la the tax evasion mafia charge.
@Sloaney I understand your point you cannot discount the enormous difficulty of obtaining a criminal conviction in cases of aquaintance rape. Criminal court requires a standard of beyond a reasonable doubt. The judge/jury has to basically be sure. Sure enough to end a human’s freedom. That entire statement he wrote above? Any lawyer worth a nickel can make that reasonable doubt. If I’m the DA, this is a losing case.
Civil court has a lower burden of proof: on a balance of probabilities. More likely than not. she does not have evidence beyond a reasonable doubt but most are beginning to agree it’s more likely than not. It’s not ideal but sometimes it’s as close as a victim will get to justice. I’d love to see him jailed if guilty but I understand the horrible situation she is in. She’s made the best choice out of bad options.
In addition, in order to file a criminal case, she’d have to have a prosecutor willing to take the case, and I doubt that one would unless there is a lot of evidence. If she could make a criminal case, I am sure she would have. That is the very sad reality of sexual assault litigation – the burden of proof is very much on the victim to even take a case to court, let alone convince a judge and/or jury.
On point as always Tifzlan. I’m so sorry that happened to you. I’m not here for anyone trying to blame Kesha for not filing criminal charges. All she’s doing is saying she doesn’t want to be forced to work with the man, and she’s already being called a liar. Of course she was scared to come forward. The man told her he’d destroy her career if she told anyone, and hmmmm, how about that. She hasn’t been able to make music in who knows how long and she has no income. Seems like she had a pretty good reason to be afraid.
+1,000,000
Wouldn’t the royalties come from Sony, not him? Some fishy stuff is going down between him and Sony.
I hate that so many are using the fact that she didn’t report him as a signal she’s lying. He was in a position of power over her in pretty much every way imaginable, and he threatened her- sadly not uncommon. I don’t think she actually was able to tell anyone until she suffered her breakdown and it all came out.
Given what we’ve seen about Sony execs in the film industry with those leaks about Angelina Jolie, Denzel, Jennifer Law, etc It’s not hard to believe Sony is being shady with Kesha. It would be great if more leaks magically appeared about their music division.
Kesha is signed to a sublabel of Sony. Her business is with that sublabel. Luke is fthe founder of it.
She belongs to kemosabe records, doesn’t she? It is a sony subsidiary but an independent label nonetheless. Maybe that’s how he’s able to withold her royalties? I don’t know how it all works
Sony backs him bc he’s produced so many hits. He’s responsible for so many of Katy Perry’s early hits like hot n cold. California girls-and so many hits on that album he did. It was said years ago he would never work with her again. Back then I wondered why? Probably more of the same bs he’s done with artists.
Well that’s interesting.
Thanks for the info on the label, guys.
Dr. Luke is such a big player in Katy’s career. He has produced the vast majority of her singles and worked on all of her albums.
I just read the docs filed ..I need a shower bad!
What a PR disaster for Dr Luke and Sony. Why are they forcing her to record with his company? Just have Sony buy out the contract and put her to work with another producer. Forcing her to remain under his company is terrible for all involved, especially Kesha, but this makes Dr Luke and Sony look so bad.
Someone briefly changed Sony’s wikipedia so the company deacription said “supports rape.” This is the kind of PR they are getting, how is it worth it to them to keep her to her contract? Surely whatever money they lose by disolving the contract would be saved in legal fees and PR damage control.
Like yesterday’s posters said, it sets precedent. They don’t want that.
I don’t get it either. Considering her first request was to continue working for Sony-just on a different sublabel and producer-and they turned her down (which is why she ended up going to court). They could have made a quiet change months ago without all the bad press and PR.
Record contracts are terminated or changed all the time though. People get dropped from labels, and recently that One Direction guy left. I find it hard to believe that facing all this, they couldn’t come up with some bs reason to end her contract without setting the precedent, and all of this likely would have stayed quiet. Not that sweeping it under the rug is right, but it’s just surprising to me that they were willing to fight her. I think Sony and Luke really didn’t expect all the support she’s gotten, or all the horrible details going public.
And actually, if producer is abusive, maybe letting the artist leave them in not a bad precedent to set.
Sony couldnt care less about bad press. Its not like people will boycott their favorite Sony artist over Kesha, no matter what they claim online. On the flip side, letting her go costs them money, which is what it all comes down to.
Sony has gone head to head with Prince, MJ and Mariah fans and walked away unscathed. Kesha will not be the one to crush them through bad press ……unless she has a criminal trial to speak for her, THEN there may be a tiny slim chance that the mainstream media coverage would overwhelm them.
Probably because they don’t believe he raped her.
Kesha is signed to his record label and they probably think this is a tactic to cancel her contract. They probably feel if they give in to her, who they think is lying, that another artist can make the same type of claim to get out of their contract in the future.
Agreed. Everyone has already made him guilty and therefore Sony should let Keisha out of her contract. Let’s just assume he’s not guilty and that this is an attempt at getting our of her contract. If so, should they let her out? To me it would be an extortion-like tactic.
This makes what Taylor Swift did even more important. And no I’m not trying to turn this into a Taylor thing but this just proves that what she did is actually helpful instead of you know sending a tweet out on Twitter. Actions speak louder than words, Demi.
demi is a twit.
Taylor is a cautious person with her own image. I don’t think she would be openly supporting Kesha if she didn’t either have bad dealings with Dr. Luke herself or personally knew a number of women who did.
I just don’t see how it’s not completely obvious that this man is a control freak who hates the fact that Kesha is seeking to have power over her own life, thus taking away the power he covets. Rape is about power and control, and even his responses to her claims–to me–reek of an abusive personality who’s pissed that he’s losing his power and control. He basically pulled a Kanye and said “I made that b!tch famous,” and that she’s only claiming abuse because she’s mad about the way her career is going. I have no trouble believing that he’s a nasty piece of work, and I hope Kesha can find her peace far, far away from him. My heart is with her.
^This.
so yes
Totally. Some of these comments make me want to hit the vodka. Hard.
And it’s not even lunchtime yet.
When/if he raped her she should have stopped working with him and reported it. Yes, she may not have had her career, but she would have been free of him.
It doesn’t work that way and it’s not that easy.
Exactly. Of all the women I know who have been raped, assaulted, harassed, I know very few who have gone to the authorities and those who did had very negative outcomes, sadly. I was sexually harassed pretty badly at a couple of jobs. At the second job, I decided to go to management and instantly regretted it. It ruined MY work experience, not HIS. And I had a “cool” boss (I thought).
I believe she was living in her car when she was discovered. Maybe the need for money made her try to deal with it and try to keep on going with her career. If I’m wrong about her living in her car, you guys correct me pls.
She alleged the rape happened in October 2005. In December 2005, she went to a lawyer to get out of her contract. She fought until 2008 to break the contract with him. When that failed she returned to him. She was homeless at that time and still under contract. She had no choice. Her two year fight to break her contract with him had failed.
That would surprise me if she were living in her car. Her mother, who has written hits for her daughter as well as Dolly Parton and others, is successful in the music industry. That doesn’t mean Kesha wouldn’t find herself living in a car, but it would be surprising.
If her mother is in the biz, why didn’t she advise her better? Are they estranged?
Because of course cases of rape are completely clear cut, and the victim is never vulnerable. confused or lays blame at their own door as a coping mechanism. And our society never tells young women that unwanted male attention, whether it escalates to sexual assault or not, is their fault due to how they dress, or act, or their very act of existing. Our society never tells victims of sexual assault that there are ‘legitimate’ forms of rape where the female body can ‘shut things down’, and that those are committed in alleyways by strangers, not by someone you know and trust.
Obviously Kesha, who signed with Sony in her late teens and has needed their help and support for her career throughout, should have immediately realised what happened and refused to fulfil her contractual obligations, resulting in an immediate lawsuit from Sony when she had no career and no thus money to support her legal fight, and likely would have been told she had to fulfil her end of the bargain anyway. /sarcasm
You may have missed the point where she said he threatened to destroy the lives of her and her family. And that she was 18 at the time.
Thru the contract he basically owns her career. Stopping working is not an option. Lena Dunhams Lenny Letter brings an interesting point: this whole thing is about the control of an abuser (and not talking about the yet unproven claims from the ongoing trial, there are stories about Luke being controlling over and psychologically harmful to his artists out there, most notably fatshaming).
A guilty/not guilty criminal verdict is irrelevant in the experience of the victim, because while often abusers are denied access in some ways, they will remain attempting to control the victims life in any way possible.
There are reports that he -allegedly- threatened Kesha and her families livelyhood, taking everything away from them and basically taking her professional career hostage. Hence the trial to try and remove him from that position of power over her.
In order to do this, they have to attack the system instead of the abuser, by targeting the contract that binds Kesha and Luke together.
I mostly agree with you, toot. Millions and career or self-respect… It would be a hard choice for me, but I feel that self-respect would and should win out. I bet for many women who are more vulnerable, it would be even harder to choose, especially if you aren’t fully cognizant of even having a choice.
I feel for her. But I just personally don’t understand why she was too afraid to report it when it happened, but is no longer reluctant to embark on this horrible, and very public, civil court journey that is breaking her financially and perhaps emotionally. Seems that reporting it criminally from the get go would’ve been equally difficult.
His tweets only make me believe her even more.
Though I believe Terry Richardson and Cosby are guilty, I simply don’t believe Kesha. She has no evidence, and this just seems a messed up ploy to get out of her contract.
I wonder why everyone believes her even though she has always been a mess publicly. In fact her entire image was based on that. She even testified in court that he didn’t rape her.
What a sad way for both their careers to end.
Kesha not having evidence of sexual assault doesn’t set her apart from the majority of sexual assault victims who are attacked by people they know and trust. It certainly doesn’t presuppose that she’s made up a ‘messed up ploy’ to weasel out of her contract.
Your comment on Kesha having ‘always been a mess publicly’ is sad in the extreme. Sure, her persona in the early days of her career was that of a stoned/drunk waster, but a) I’m confident that a lot of that was down to creating Kesha’s ‘image’ and ‘brand’ and b) do people who like getting drunk at parties not still deserve justice if they have been attacked? A+ victim blaming there, my friend.
How can I be victim blaming when she said herself in court that she wasn’t raped? She said she wasn’t a victim in the first place!
She did testify in 2011 that she was never roofied by Luke and that he never made advances towards her. The context of that 2011 deposition is critical – Kesha was in a legal battle with her former manager Sonenberg, who had tried to bring her over to Warner Bros. Records before she fired him and went back to work with Luke. Sonenburg sued for his commission, Kesha counter-sued, and it was a legal mess.
But, crucially, Sonenburg claimed that back as far as 2005, Kesha had been victim to ‘unethical and unlawful actions’ by Luke and wanted out. The fact that her former manager was aware of the claims as far back as 2005 suggests that Kesha hasn’t suddenly made these up now to leave the contract. As for her lying on the stand, it’s not good for her defence now. But to extrapolate that a new contract with Warner Bros. had just fallen through and she needed Luke’s support to keep releasing music, it makes perfect sense for her to provide false testimony out of fear of Luke and/or fear for her career.
People lie on the stand. Your comment still implies heavily that you’re surprised people believe Kesha because she’s always been a ‘mess’, suggesting that people shouldn’t believe any of her serious allegations because her public image was one of a boozy, reckless and sexually voracious young woman. None of those factors should have any bearing on whether or not Kesha is telling the truth about being a victim of sexual assault.
Renata – haven’t you ever stopped to question why someone who worked closely with her would make claims that she was abused in that way by the man? I mean, why in the world would such a claim, a detailed claim, be made in the first place? It’s not a normal thing to allege in a financial suit.
That’s not to say I know what happened here, or who is telling the truth, but more generally speaking it’s actually normal for a woman abused by a man in an ongoing relationship to deny it and defend him against it to police, family and friends for quite some time. I would actually expect a victim of what sounds a domestic abuse situation, given the enmeshed social and employment roles being described by people on here, to lie when told to by an abuser, certainly in the early years, and especially when the abusive relationship began when the victim was a teenager and where the abuser had a great deal more power in just about every sense.
From my perspective the fact her own manager was claiming these abuses, and that they began many years ago, when she herself was very quiet on the topic is more telling than her signing an affidavit denying it.
And being a mess at a young age makes someone more likely to be a victim of predatory behaviour, not less. It’s not any sort of point for the defence in actuality, though depressingly our culture expects victims to be pure living paragons of virtue, or they aren’t taken seriously. Unfortunately most predators will hone in on vulnerable people, not the ones who have their shit together.
Finally, you’re saying you find her choices sketchy, but you don’t seem to find it sketchy that a man was trying to use the courts to force a woman who had accused him of raping her to continue to work with him, personally. Which he did until November, according to comments above. That does not add up to me – most men I know wouldn’t want to ever have any contact with a woman who did that at all, if they were innocent. But if the whole thing was about power… I’m sure you see where I am going on that.
Again. no clue what happened here. But the huge degree of very public support she’s getting from women in the industry, several of whom know the man in question, is telling, I think.
Why do people say there’s no evidence when the case is probably still a year away from going to trial? And then you have to ask why she wants out of this contract so badly. She signed the contract around March of 2005 and was in a lawyers office in December 2005 asking for help to break her contract. Even then she was saying she had been raped and abused in other ways.
These allegations aren’t new at all. I’m sure there’s tons of evidence that’s built up over the years that will prove her claims true. Other accusers have also come forward and will testify at the trial.
But then she took back her claims of rape and other actions. Here’s the thing if guilty he deserves to be criminally and civilly punished …. if he’s innocent it’s too late because he may have a job for now but he’s been convicted in the media. Unfortunately sometimes women make up claims and in the process not only hurt the men they are accusing, themselves but all of the real victims of abuse.
Well, considering that she tried to get out of the contract in 2005 following the rape, and her career was at it’s peak in like 2008 ish – is it possible that a) she was medicating to get over the horrible situation she was in, or perhaps it was a persona that was created to sell records? The girl isn’t a moron – she had a 1500 on her SATs – she hasn’t always been a mess.
It’s easy to make assumptions, but when you’re not even aware of the basic timeline of when this happened, you’re part of the problem. This is why it’s so easy for women to get shit on in the media, and for their cases to not be taken seriously.
The height of her career was 2010-2011. Her first hit was in 2009. Her last hit was in 2014 when Timber went to #1. The persona does seem to have been a label creation. People who encountered her in professional situations in 2010 were shocked. They expected her to be a hot mess but they said she was very friendly and down to earth. They also said she was very disciplined and professional. So she’s never been a mess at all.
She actually fought to get her contract renegotiated in 2011-2012 as well. She refused to go into the studio to record her 2nd album until she got a deal that would loosen Luke’s control over her. This lawsuit is actually her third attempt at escape. It’s kind of sad to see that she’s been fighting to escape him for 10 years now.
I have no doubt her drinking and rehab stays were caused by her self medicating to forget. I would certainly want to forget.
Exactly KWM. One traumatic event can be enough to push someone into self medicating, and she was stuck working with the guy and being subjected to his abuse for years.
KWM–Errrr, unusually enough, Kesha has never had a drinking problem. Her rehab stint—which lasted two months, twice the length of time she originally planned—was for bulimia. As I understand it, that’s actually what precipitated this whole civil suit: Kesha claims her doctors at the facility advised that she disconnect from her producer. She filed right after rehab. (Sorry, I had to research the whole thing for work.)
Me either. Her lawyer tried to say he raped Gaga too, and Gaga has denied that.
Her lawyer made an assumption that Luke raped Gaga which turned out to be untrue. I think he was confused because her name had come up during the lawsuit preparation. Gaga had been supporting Kesha for about a year before the lawsuit was filed. He may have assumed Gaga was providing support to Kesha because she was a victim too but he turned out to be wrong. I’ve been following Kesha’s case closely and it’s clear she’s the one telling the truth here. It’s pretty ignorant to bring up a mistake her lawyer made and try to use it to discredit her. Especially when Gaga herself has been openly supporting Kesha for the last few days.
Back when Pitbull released Timber it was reported that she was having a break down and her mom was seeking medical help for her bc of dr Luke’s emotional abuse. I hadnt head of the sexual abuse. Dr luke also produced Timber and a couple of Pitbull’s hits.
@ Renata omg! WOW! As someone viciously attacked, molested, and a few times attacked but getting away.. it’s comments like yours that cuts like a knife in my vote! Even w/ evidence reporting it to anyone doesn’t mean a win. I was raped in the storeroom of the restaurant I worked in when I was 17 by an assistant manager. A dear friend was the cook up front & came back to see what the commotion was in the store room. He did nothing (2 kids & a wife to feed). I was told I’d be better off not telling anyone. I thought another female that worked at the restaurant was my best friend, I told her and asked her not to tell anyone but to help me get cleaned up before I went home. I lived w/ my parents, the manager commented that4 my father wouldn’t believe me, even though I had never been w/ anyone.
I was already damaged goods to my dad, I was molested by their landlord when I was a baby). yes, my dad was tough,Two weeks later I get summoned into work on a day off to speak to the store manager & regional manager. My friend had gone to the store manager: I went thru hell.. He was leaving but, not due being fired..rkliNo, he got a promotion to store manager – his own restaurant in the next town. I was treated like crap there even w/ a witness (who wound up leaving because hours were cut & pay increases stopped. I was in training four night management.. that stopped. Thankfully a manager from a retail store was in one night when I was badly burned & couldn’t leave (acting night manager w/o the title or pay). I wound up in the ER after work & wound up having skin grafts I had 3rd & second degree burns on my right arm. Weeks later I went into the major retail store w/ my mom so I could buy more school supplies, the store manager apparently left word whenever I come into the store get him immediately. He found me in the school supplies & told me he wanted me to watch a new hire video & sign some papers.. I was getting away from that restaurant job. We found my mom & I told her (she sat & visited w/ the store manager while I did all of the new hire tasks). That night I went to the restaurant & gave my 2 weeks notice. As soon as I was gone that assistant manager was brought back to that store (there was a huge scandal the store manager was fired for stealing massive amounts of oysters, shrimp, etc for her “famous weekend parties” w/ prominent people in her town (another neighboring town). A few females were complaining in the store he was overseeing since his promotion, not knowing his history, but reporting he was too handsy & one reported he tried to kiss her. He didn’t last long though when they sent him back here to the local restaurant, within 2 months he had attacked 2 girls. Then an official investigation was launched by regional, they couldn’t cover for him any longer (the girls he attacked were cousins, both w/ prominent fathers- one was a judge…). So it wasn’t evidence that got rid of him.. It was the company no longer able to cover because he attacked someone whose father could make it difficult for them.
Yuck. I do hope you’re in a better situation. That is heartbreaking. It says a lot about the system, though.
Wow that’s horrible. Just FYI you are not damaged goods. You can’t help the bad stuff that happened to you. I hope you don’t think of yourself as damaged goods. That makes it sound like you’re defective. You are a survivor.
Thank you Serena, Snowflake, & Sloan. Your kindness brought tears. I don’t usually think about it anymore.. But things like this brings it to the forefront for me. I do think of myself as s survivor, but took me along time to get there. I have a lot of health problems & and lost my first husband because of my health & I think the fact that I still had issues w/ my childhood. I have been happily married now for 20 yrs to my second husband. He helped heal me. I met him a yr before We married & we were just friends, he became my best friend & I could share my deepest fears with. He helped me thru so much & was so supportive in everything I was trying to do to find me. Today I am strong, I don’t usually let things bother me, I have learned to use my life experiences to help others. But I’m human & on really tough days health wise (today lungs & kidney function poor), I can get a bit sensitive or sappy on certain subjects). For some reason Renata’s comment hit my soul today.. and just brought my memories back. I hate that 34 years later women still have to struggle with predators in the workforce or anywhere frankly. It seems like it’s one of the main issues that never progresses for the better in society.
Glad that things are better for you now.
I wish he’d rot in jail.
Me too Serena, if not I believe in Karma.. So if not in this life, he’ll pay in the next.
After the Sony hack and now this case, it is a wonder how any artist would want to work with that company. I can see another round of Sony “leaks” coming out soon.
First-she didn’t lose her trial to break her contract. That’s still pending (and will prob go up in 2017) This was a injunction so that she could keep recording with anyone else until the civil case is done. And normally you have to show harm for that-which Sony was proving by not letting her record with anyone else at Sony-and then at zero hour they changed saying she could record with a different producer (although the guy would still get the final mix and it would still be released on his label) this basically made it so the judges hands were tied because harm could no longer be proved.
What I don’t get from all of his whining-if she’s so horrible and a liar why he doesn’t cut her loose and let her go to someone else at Sony? Oh yea-because the important thing for him is control and getting to hold it over her. He’s a tool and he and Sony are just making themselves look bad
this is a good summary
Thanks for the summary, I knew they had been trying to force her to record with them and didn’t realized they changed tactics at the very last minute
Exactly, if he wants to prove he is not an abuser/rapist he should just let her walk away. But he can’t his need to control her and have power over her is preventing him from doing that.
Her GoFundMe — definitely donate! >> https://www.gofundme.com/freekesha
I read a piece on Jezebel yesterday [idk how to embed links, sorry.]
http://jezebel.com/she-was-proving-hard-to-control-some-background-on-k-1760573209
that said part of the financial issue is that Kesha has written parts of songs and whole songs for both herself and others and that Dr Luke purposely did not give her songwriting credit, and thus deprived her of royalties. The whole situation is severely f*cked up. I’m not sure I entirely understand it, but let’s help a sister out.
She has bankrupted herself and derailed her career because she cannot (understandably) bring herself to work with this manipulative rapist. NO ONE would do that to themselves if it wasn’t true, just to get out of a contract. That fact right there should eliminate any doubt about the veracity of her claims. She is a victim who is being continuously victimized by this monster and the Courts so far won’t even stop him. I can’t imagine how helpless and scared she must be. As a woman I am disgusted. #teamkesha
That last pic is heartbreaking. She looks completely stunned. This story is just awful. And yes, #teamkesha all the way.
Someone close to Kesha said she’s isn’t out of money. She has made millions over the years and she lives very frugally. I could see if this keeps dragging on for years that she could potentially run out of money. But the bad publicity already seems to have Sony very worried. Based on Luke’s Twitter meltdown he seems to have finally realized he isn’t as powerful as he once thought. He tried to destroy her but it now seems like this will destroy him instead. I wouldn’t be surprised if this case ends up being settled in the coming months.
I have learned that people are very good at hiding their financial status. Her last big hit was with Pitbull in 2013, add in a few lengthy rehab stays and a drawn out lawsuit, plus even living frugal you have managers, PR teams everyone taking their cut with no new income coming in, doesn’t take long to run out of money.
Years ago I read a fascinating article about the hype of music artists and just how much they really make. When it was all broken down out of the 15.00 the record cost the consumer, the artist ended up with about 75 cents per record sold. You have to pay the studio back for recording time, for any music video shot, then you have to pay producers, mixers, writer, management, promotion, etc… until the artist gets their share, yet they do most of the work. The studios are making the money not the artists. Tours are where artists make money, but you need to be able to carry a tour.
I think that sick ba$tard made a big mistake yesterday by going off on Twitter. I wonder if there are any other women out there that were harassed/attacked by this pathetic loser. I hope they come forward if they are out there. And how can he hold her royalties? Even if he’s head of the label, now that this ruling came out, would he not have to release them? I’d be looking into criminal financial practices if they can’t get him for anything else. It got Capone locked up.
Other accusers have already come forward as Jane Does. Three came forward soon after the lawsuit was filed. I would assume the number has gone up at this point. I think even more may come forward now that Sony and Luke are looking so bad with all this negative publicity. I think her lawsuit already addressed the royalty issue. There have been rumors for years that he was paying her far less than she was owed contractually.
I don’t have a horse in this race and not trying to be mean …. did she have enough of a career to have much in royalties? She didn’t present as a first class entertainer, more “had one hit and then nada”. But I don’t follow pop.
She does. She’s had quite a few songs on Billboard top 100 and most being in the top 20.
I’m tired of portraying women as the perpetual victim. It is possible that abuse never occurred. It is very possible that they partied together and did drugs consensually and had sex and what not. Now, a female can turn that into something completely different. Now it is abuse because she was high on drugs that she willingly took. Like those Coke lines with Wayne coyne were nothing at all. Please! Why do we act as though a woman is a weak and vulnerable creature that is constant prey to horrible men? It is insulting to me as a woman. To sit here and act like women don’t play that card all the time is just silly. Any woman can accuse a man of something, to her advantage, and we all act as though she is a delicate flower that isn’t possible of conniving a terrible scheme built on a system of treating women as innocent victims. I’m not saying it didn’t happen. Maybe she was into it at the time and has no changed her mind.
Yes absolutely – she derailed her whole career because she regretted having sex (even though noone knew about it…). She used her evil man hating feminist shrew brain to hatch a scheme that she learned from all the other regretful whores out there just out to ruin men’s lives (but also for LOLs obvi)