A series of disturbing emails allegedly sent from producer Dr. Luke to Kesha and her management team have been released amid their ongoing legal battle.
After a judge ruled last year that Kesha was legally bound to her recording contract with Dr. Luke, she’s still fighting to be released. This week, her lawyer filed another request for a contract release so Kesha can “be free from her abuser and rebuild her physical, emotional, and mental health,” according to court filings.
As part of the initial lawsuit (which has since led to various appeals and counter suits), Kesha accused Dr. Luke of verbal and physical abuse. There’s now an alleged series of emails, via court papers, that appear to support some of Kesha’s claims. Page Six published excerpts purported to be copies of email exchanges between Dr. Luke, Kesha and her manager Monica Cornia.
In one message, Dr. Luke allegedly writes: “A list songwriters and producers are reluctant to give Kesha their songs because of her weight.”
There’s also an alleged series of emails from May 2012, in which Kesha, Cornia and other managers have a disagreement over the lyrics for her single “We R Who We R.” Page Six reports (bolded emphasis mine):
In one email, Cornia says Dr. Luke wanted the phrase, “You see us in the club sip sippin bub,” while Kesha preferred, “You see us in the streets we da we da freaks,” because she doesn’t go to clubs.
“I don’t give a shit what you want. If you were smart you would go in and sing it,” Dr. Luke allegedly told Kesha, according to Cornia.
Cornia adds that Kesha tried to settle the spat with Dr. Luke, but “didn’t feel comfortable talking to him” in the studio.
“He refused to come downstairs (“she wears the pants in MY house?”) so we left,” Cornia writes, again quoting Dr. Luke.
In another apparent exchange from June 2012, related to Kesha’s eating disorder, Dr. Luke allegedly writes to Cornia:
“Nobody was calling anybody out... We were having a discussion on how she can be more disciplined with her diet. there have been many times we have all witnessed her breaking her diet plan. this perticular [sic] time — it happened to be diet coke and turkey while on an all juice fast.”
Cornia responds in that instance:
Cornia asks him to be more supportive because she’s “a human and not a machine,” then adds, “if she were a machine that would be way cool and we could do whatever we want.”
A conference call with the judge is reportedly set for next week.