Firing back at Kesha
Dr. Luke: She lies for a better contract
Music producer Dr. Luke on Monday accused “Tik Tok’’ singer Kesha of lying that he raped her to gain the upper hand in contract negotiations, insisting that he always considered her a “little sister.’’
“I didn’t rape Kesha and I have never had sex with her,” Dr. Luke tweeted. “Kesha and I were friends for many years and she was like my little sister.”
The producer continued: “It’s sad that she would turn a contract negotiation into something so horrendous and untrue.”
His slam came three days after a Manhattan judge ruled that Kesha, 28, would not be immediately allowed to break her exclusive recording contract with Sony and Dr. Luke over her claims she was raped by him. Dr. Luke, 42, has not been charged.
Her lawyer had argued her career has been stymied because she doesn’t want to work with him since the alleged attack.
In support of the singer, pop princess Taylor Swift signed a $250,000 check for her on Sunday.
But lawyers for Dr. Luke, whose real name is Lukasz Gottwald, reiterated Monday that he’s not the one preventing Kesha from releasing new tunes.
“The New York Supreme Court on Friday found Kesha is already ‘free’ to record and release music without working with Dr. Luke as a producer if she doesn’t want to,” said the producer’s lawyer, Christine Lepera, in a statement. “Any claim that she isn’t ‘free’ is a myth.”
Lepera also referenced an alleged hashtag “smear campaign” that resurfaced online Friday after the judge temporarily dashed the singer’s hopes of getting out of her exclusive Sony contract while the sexualassault case against Dr. Luke is still pending.
“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,” she wrote, referring to the #FreeKesha hashtag.
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Shirley Kornreich is expected to make a decision in the coming days on whether the sexualassault and rape claims are valid.
Some others in the music industry took Kesha’s side.
Jack Antonoff, a singersongwriter who just won a Grammy for his work on Swift’s “1989” album, tweeted he’d help Kesha produce an album.
“hey @Kesharose don’t know what the legal specifics are, but if you want to make something together & then leak it for everyone I’m around,” he wrote. “or just make something and wait till that creep can’t block you anymore. standing offer.”
Additional reporting by Kelly Hartog in Hollywood