May, 2016 RollingStoneAus.com | Rolling Stone | 35GETTY IMAGES, 2
they’ve invested a lot of money.”
SheaddedthatwhatKesha’slaw-
yers were asking would “undercut
ourwholesystemofcontract.And
this court can’t be a party to that.”
Kesha, wearing all white in a
backrowofthecourthouse,wept
as she heard the judge’s decision
(whichonlyappliedtotheprelim-
inary injunction; an actual trial
won’thappenbeforenextyear).
Photographers snapped away.
Thesightofheranguishedface,
andtheideaofawomanseem-
inglyforcedtoworkwithheral-
legedrapist,howeverindirectly,
sparked a tidal wave of sympa-
thythatbuoyedKesha,evenasit
threatened to swamp Dr. Luke’s
career. His lawyer accused Kesha
of engaging in “trial by Twitter,
using a vicious smear campaign
toruinhisreputationforfinan-
cial gain while failing to support
their claims.”
KellyClarksontweetedasubtle
condemnation of Dr. Luke, who
co-wrote her biggest hit, “Since
UBeenGone”.LadyGagawrote,
“Whyisthevictimalwaysthe
liar?” Fiona Apple wrote, “I am so
angry for you. They were wrong.
I’msosorry.”TaylorSwiftgave
Kesha $250,000 “to help with any of her
financialneedsduringthistryingtime”.
Andthebiggestfemaleartistontheplan-
et,Adele–whoisaffiliatedwithSony
Music – finished an acceptance speech at
the Brit Awards by saying, “I’d like to take
this moment to publicly support Kesha.”
More than 200,000 fans signed a petition
in Kesha’s favour.
As the pressure built, Dr. Luke, who has
fi led a countersuit against Kesha for def-
amation, made his fi rst public statements
on the case. “I didn’t rape Kesha and I have
never had sex with her,” he said on Twitter,
accusing Kesha of lying in order to rene-
gotiate her contract, and urging the pub-
lic not to rush to judgment. “Kesha and I
were friends for many years and she was
like my little sister.... Imagine if you or
somebody you loved was publicly accused
of a rape you knew they didn’t do.” Foot-
age surfaced of a 2011 deposition in a sep-
arate case where Kesha denied that Dr.
Luke had made any sexual advances (Ke-
sha’s attorneys say she was too scared to
tell the truth). Sony, meanwhile, made it
known that it could not unilaterally set-
tle the case without Dr. Luke’s agreement.
Dr. Luke began his career as a Satur-
day Night Live guitarist (Kesha alleges
he got the medical title from a drug-ped-
dling sideline) before he saw success as a
producer-songwriter, often teaming withSwedishhitmachineMax
Martin. Dr. Luke’s latest
chart-topper was Miley
Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball”,
though his stream of hits
slowed recently as he fo-
cused on young artists on
his label. His most consis-
tently successful collabo-
ration has been with Katy
Perry, including seven
tracks from 2013’s Prism.
Perry’s voice has been no-
tably absent from the Kesha controversy –
“You don’t hear a word out of her,” says a
music-business attorney – and it remains
to be seen if she will work with Dr. Luke
again. (She didn’t respond to a request for
comment.)
Circa 2005, Dr. Luke discovered
18-year-old Kesha Rose Sebert’s demo.
She quit high school and moved from
Nashville to Los Angeles, where he signed
her to recording and publishing deals. But
the pair quickly grew estranged. Dr. Luke
became too busy with other artists, and
Kesha sought other deals – before appar-
ently reconciling with Dr. Luke and re-
turning to him in 2008. In her complaint,Kesha alleges that in ’05, Luke forced her
to drink and take the drug GHB before she
“woke up the following afternoon, naked
in Dr. Luke’s bed, sore and sick, with no
memory of how she got there”. That al-
leged assault, she claims, began an abusive
pattern, where Luke would purportedly
say she was “nothing but his pawn, and if
she did not obey his orders... he would end
her career”. She also alleges a second sex-
ual assault, in 2008. (Dr. Luke denies the
allegations.)
Dr. Luke produced and co-wrote her
smash debut single, “Tik Tok”, which
helped establish her amusingly raunchy
party-girl persona. By her second album,
2012’s Warrior, she was bristling at that
image, and at what she saw as Dr. Luke’s
resistance to recording more rock-orient-
ed and emotional songs. She also alleges
that Dr. Luke was harassing her about her
weight, which he denies. In January 2014,
Kesha checked into a rehab centre for
treatment of bulimia – an illness she par-
tially blames on Dr. Luke. Nine months
later, she fi led her lawsuit. She played scat-
tered live shows, including a Nashville gig
backed by a band she dubbed the Yeast In-
fection. “It’s obvious she’s
incredibly stressed out
about the whole thing,”
says that band’s guitar-
ist, Richie Kirkpatrick.
“She has been for years.
I think it’s been consum-
ing her.”
“All I ever wanted was
to be able to make music
without being afraid or
abused,” Kesha wrote on-
line. “This case has never
been about a renegoti-
ation of my contract....
This is about being free
from my abuser.” She
added that she’d work
with Sony if she were re-
leased from all ties to Dr.
Luke.
Many attorneys pre-
dict a settlement, possibly with Kemos-
abe transferring her contract to Sony and
Dr. Luke not admitting guilt. Either way,
one publicist and crisis-management ex-
pert, Jonathan Hay, argues that Dr. Luke’s
career could potentially be “done”. “The
whole situation is just bad business,” says
Hay, who has worked with Rihanna and
Sony. “When you’re against Adele, Lady
Gaga and Taylor Swift, it’s like, you’re
done. I would hate to be his publicist – I
wouldn’t take him.”
For her part, Kesha is simply anxious
to get back to the studio. “I have so many
songs to share,” she tweeted last year. “As
soon as I can, I will.”PROTEST MUSIC Above:
Fans at New York courthouse
in support of Kesha. Right:
Dr. Luke and Kesha, 2011.