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Entertainment February 13, 2017
The Kesha-Dr. Luke fight has dominated headlines for over two years now. What started out as a sexual assault claim has turned into a mess of countersuits, court dates and a never-ending he-said-she-said which has dragged the likes of Katy Perry and Lady Gaga into its fold.
But now, in a strange twist, even supporters of Kesha are being pulled into the legal drama. Yes, supporters, as in fans and laypeople who took her side and decided to protest on her behalf or tweet their support with Twitter slogans like #FreeKesha.
According to legal docs filed in the case and obtained by ENTITY, producer Dr. Luke is demanding that Kesha’s lawyer hand over all documents, communications and information related to protesters and social media campaigns which supported Kesha.
Dr. Luke says he even wants info regarding the Twitter account, @KeshaTODAY, which is the “official Twitter account for the #FreeKesha Movement!”
In legal docs, obtained by ENTITY, Dr. Luke wants Kesha’s team to hand over all communications with protesters and supporters.
It’s unclear why Dr. Luke would go after communications with laypeople, but it appears the mega producer is pretty upset anyone would dare take Kesha’s side (which P.S. both fans and celebrities did in droves).
For the uninitiated, this whole thing started in 2014 when Kesha sued Dr. Luke claiming he sexually, physically, verbally and emotionally abused her to the point where she nearly lost her life. As a result, she wanted out of her Sony contract in order to avoid having Dr. Luke as her producer.
But that didn’t work out. A court shot down her initial request to record new music outside of Sony and Dr. Luke while the lawsuit was ongoing. Not only that, Dr. Luke counter-sued Kesha for defamation claiming the accusations were both false and shocking. “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,” he wrote on Twitter.
Kesha fans were outraged by all of it. They didn’t feel the artist should have to record music with a man who allegedly sexually assaulted her and as the court dates came and went they protested in the streets and outside courthouses. The hashtags #FreeKesha — which emerged even before the lawsuit was filed — and #IStandWithKesha made the rounds on Twitter. One fan even created a GoFundMe campaign to raise enough funds to buy Kesha out of her Sony contract. Even celebrities like Ariana Grande, Kelly Clarkson and Demi Lovato got in on the action, tweeting their support. Taylor Swift, every girl’s BFF, went one step further and donated $250,000 to Kesha’s cause.
To Kesha’s supporters this was one more example of a woman claiming she was sexually assaulted and no one believing her.
Unfortunately, Kesha hasn’t made make much progress in court (the outcome of her case is still pending and she never pressed criminal charges). So for the last two-plus years she and Dr. Luke have been dueling it out with co-lawsuits, filing motion after motion and getting nowhere.
For her part, Kesha claims she’s still just trying to get away from a sexual abuser, “All I ever wanted was to be able to make music without being afraid, scared, or abused,” Kesha wrote back in February 2016.
She added “This case has never been about a renegotiation of my record contract — it was never about getting a bigger, or a better deal. This is about being free from my abuser.”
Dr. Luke on the other hand claims it is about contract negotiations and the sexual abuse claims are akin to extortion. And his latest attempt to prove that claim is to look for dirt on basically anyone who supported Kesha, ever, and may have chatted with her or her team.
In response Kesha’s lawyer claimed Dr. Luke’s demands were nothing more than a fishing expedition in order to harass him. He also noted in legal docs that demanding information on people who may have supported Kesha in protests or on social media “does not even make clear whose communications” they are looking for.
Yes, it’s a strange move indeed.
Perhaps Dr. Luke wants to find some incriminating evidence that Kesha rallied or coerced her fans to protest on her behalf in some elaborate scheme to tarnish his name and successfully break her contract.
Or perhaps he’s doing what abusers typically do and trying to scare anyone who tries to help.
