After a judge ruled on Friday that Kesha is contractually bound to producer Dr. Luke, the man she’s accusing of sexual abuse, his lawyers claim Kesha is using social media to taint Luke’s reputation in what they’re calling a “trial by Twitter.”
TMZ reports, citing the lawyers’ reasoning:
On one hand, they want her to know she’s always been “free” ... free to record with Luke or any other Sony producer. The lawyers also say they’ve invested $11 mil in her career and are “committed to continuing to promote her work.”
On the other hand, the lawyers blast Kesha for engaging in “trial by Twitter,” engaging in an unsupported, “vicious smear campaign to ruin Luke’s reputation.”
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What they’re referring to, in part, is the vast amount of women in the music industry—including Lady Gaga, Lily Allen, Demi Lovato, Ariana Grande and JoJo—and others who’ve tweeted support of Kesha and thus publicly objected to the idea of a female pop artist being legally contracted to an alleged abuser.
As was the case with music publicist Heathcliff Berru (and in some regard, Bill Cosby), Twitter has proven to be a medium for vocal challenges towards male abuse of power. Luke’s legal team, however, continues to reiterate their claim that Kesha is spewing “outright lies” with the goal of extorting the producer.
UPDATE: Here’s the full statement from Luke’s lawyers.
The New York County Supreme Court on Friday found that Kesha is already “free” to record and release music without working with Dr. Luke as a producer if she doesn’t want to. Any claim that she isn’t “free” is a myth. The sound decision Friday by the Court in denying Kesha’s motion for an injunction made it clear Kesha’s allegations of purported abuse were unconvincing and that she had no basis to void record contracts and copyrights. Dr. Luke and his companies invested in Kesha’s success through their contributions, Sony Music has already spent over $11 million promoting Kesha, and Sony Music and its label Kemosabe Records are committed to continuing to promote her work.
More significantly, the Court also noted multiple times that her vague abuse allegations were devoid of factual detail, and that there was no evidence, whether from doctors or anyone else, to support them.
Tellingly, Kesha never reported any purported abuse or rape to any law enforcement authority, or even to Sony Music, and further swore under oath in another matter, while accompanied by her team of lawyers, that it never occurred. The goal of Kesha’s counsel throughout has been to obtain a more lucrative contract through a shameless campaign of outrageous claims they will never stand behind in a court of law.
As Dr. Luke has said repeatedly, the allegations against him are outright lies that have been advanced to extort a contract renegotiation and money. 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. Kesha to date has never verified the allegations in this case -even when given the opportunity in her affidavit. Nor has she ever offered a credible explanation as to why she would have signed a second recording agreement, recorded two albums and an EP and signed a publishing deal with Dr. Luke after allegedly being sexually abused. It will further be shown that the incidents alleged never happened.
Contact the author at clover@jezebel.com.
Image via AP