Lady Gaga and Lorde are among the female musicians who have shown their support for Kesha following the news that she will not be allowed to break from a professional contract with the producer she has accused of raping her.
As reported, Kesha has been denied an exit from her recording contract with producer Dr Luke (Lukasz Gottwald) by the New York Supreme Court, with Justice Shirley Kornreich telling the singer that Dr Luke’s offer to allow her to record without his involvement “decimates her argument.”
In October 2014, the pop star filed a lawsuit against her long-time producer Dr Luke for “mental manipulation, emotional abuse and sexual assault”, and was looking to be freed from her contract with him.
Kesha had previously said that her career is “effectively over” following delays in the case, with the preliminary injunction papers stating that the singer’s brand value had fallen “past the point of no return.”
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.”
Meanwhile, Halsey dedicated her song ‘Hold Me Down’ to Kesha at her gig in Glasgow last night.
"to kesha rose" Hold Me Down @halsey pic.twitter.com/O4OSdNHLcB
— bex (@heartofsmine) February 20, 2016
See Twitter message for Kesha below:
http://storify.com/nmemagazine/freekesha
Kesha claimed in her suit that Dr Luke – who she signed with at the age of 18 – made her snort something before getting on a plane “and during the trip he forced himself on her while she was drugged”. She also alleged that she was given something Dr Luke called “sober pills” before waking up the next day “naked in Dr Luke’s bed, sore, sick… and with no memory of how she got there”.
When an injunction case relating to Kesha’s recording contract with the producer was heard in the New York Supreme Court today, however, The Hollywood Reporter quotes Justice Kornreich as saying “You’re asking the court to decimate a contract that was heavily negotiated and typical for the industry,” as well as citing Dr Luke’s $60 million investment in Kesha’s career. She added “my instinct is to do the commercially reasonable thing.”
“I don’t understand why I have to take the extraordinary measure of granting an injunction,” the Justice continued. Kesha’s lawyer complained she was being “set up to fail,” with the judge responding “you’re asking me to assume an entity like Sony, who are in a competitive position, will not want to make money on their investment.”
Dr Luke owns Kemosabe Records, which is part of the Sony group, and Kesha has made it clear she is prepared to record with Sony, but not under Dr Luke’s imprint, or in a contract with the producer. Dr Luke denies Kesha’s abuse claims.