Lena Dunham has written about Kesha amid her legal dispute with both Dr Luke and Sony in her feminist newsletter Lenny.
As reported, Kesha has accused Dr Luke of drugging and raping her a decade ago. Last week (February 19), she was denied an exit from her recording contract with the producer by the New York Supreme Court.
Dunham writes that when she saw the outcome of the case last week she felt “actually sick” adding: “I wanted to ask my Uber to pull over so I could throw up in a New York City trash can.”
Tackling the case, Dunham adds: “To be clear, Kesha’s case is about more than a pop star fighting for her freedom…what’s happening to Kesha highlights the way that the American legal system continues to hurt women by failing to protect them from the men they identify as their abusers.”
GettyShe continues: “The fact is, Kesha will never have a doctor’s note. She will never have a videotape that shows us that Gottwald threatened and shamed her, and she will never be able to prove, beyond the power of her testimony, that she is unsafe doing business with this man. And no, none of this was in her contract. But what man, what company endeavors to keep a woman saddled with someone who she says has caused her years of trauma, shame, and fear? Fighting this fight publicly and in the legal system has already changed the course and tenor of her career forever. The lack of perspective on the part of Sony — the inability to look at the worth of a woman’s platinum records versus the worth of her soul being intact — is horrifying.
Speaking about the reaction to Kesha’s verdict and the support she has received from fellow female musicians, Dunham closes by stating: “We are not scared anymore of losing what we worked for, of being branded hysterical or difficult, of being targeted and silenced by men in power. The women in the music industry speaking out for Kesha are proof. And their words will reverberate, inspiring the young women watching them for clues about the good life to speak up too. Soon, no one will accept shame and fear as the status quo. And so, while Kesha is indefinitely silenced, her voice has never been louder.”
Yesterday Dunham’s boyfriend, musician Jack Antonoff, volunteered to record music with Kesha that she could then leak online behind the back of Sony.
Since the ruling was made, #FreeKesha has been trending on Twitter with some of the biggest female musicians in the world joining in.
Lady Gaga tweeted “There are people all over the world who love you @KeshaRose. And I can say truly I am in awe of your bravery.” while Lorde added: “standing with @KeshaRose through this traumatic, deeply unfair time. send good vibes her way everyone.”
http://storify.com/nmemagazine/freekesha