Katy Perry Denies She Was Raped by Dr. Luke, and Kesha Never Wanted Texts Public

Part of the deposition that Katy Perry was reportedly fighting to keep sealed was unsealed Monday, and shows Perry telling her attorney that she was not raped by producer Lukasz “Dr. Luke” Gottwald.

The documents obtained by Jezebel include a conversation between Perry and her attorney in which she refutes the rumor that she was raped by Dr. Luke, who worked with her on her albums One of the Boys, Teenage Dream, and Prism:

“Did Dr. Luke ever rape you?” an attorney asked.

“No,” Perry replied.

“Did Dr. Luke ever sexually assault you?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Did he ever give you a roofie?”

“No.”

“Did you have a sexual relationship with Dr. Luke at all?”

“No.”

“A romantic relationship?”

“No.”

The rumor stems back to a text exchange between Lady Gaga and Kesha, in which Kesha reportedly told Lady Gaga that Dr. Luke had raped Perry. Since then, Perry has been trying to keep her deposition sealed, with her attorney writing in court papers obtained by Page Six that the unsealed testimony could cause “significant harm” to her “career and reputation.”

Previously, Kesha’s legal team told press that the CEO of a major label told her and Gaga at the same time that Perry had been raped by Dr. Luke, which is confirmed in Lady Gaga’s deposition to be Interscope CEO John Janick.

“Did Mr. Janick say in your presence and Ms. Sebert’s presence that my client, Mr. Gottwald, raped Katy Perry?”

“He said he had heard a rumor.”

“Janick said he heard a rumor?”

“Yes.”

“In the presence of both of you?”

“Yes, and I don’t know that he used the word “rumor.” I don’t recall exactly the way he said it. I just recall that it was brought up.”

“Okay. By him?”

“Yes.”

Gaga further says that Janick was in conversation with the two of them to be supportive and potentially bring Kesha over to Interscope. “I had a conversation with him and her about what we can do to speak with Sony about potentially maybe bringing her over to Interscope, and that I would look after her,” she says.

Kesha, as well, in her unsealed deposition is repeatedly upset that Dr. Luke’s legal team made her text messages with Gaga public, as she didn’t want to out a potential rape victim this way.“I feel upset that the private text messages about this is being made public. I’m upset about that,” Kesha says at one point. “I’m upset that a rape victim would be outed like this.” (At this point, Perry’s deposition in which she denies being raped by Dr. Luke was not public.) And at one point, after Dr. Luke’s lawyer Christine Lepera is accused of yelling at Kesha during a heated exchange, Kesha says:

Your legal team and Dr. Luke have taken my private text messages that have been the only conversation about Katy Perry getting raped by Dr. Luke and made it public. This was a private conversation that you and your side and your team have made public. I would have never in a million years, in a million years made the fact that she got raped, if she got raped, public. Ever.

On the same day the deposition was unsealed, Dr. Luke’s press representation sent out a lengthy press release alleging that Kesha filed a “bogus complaint” against him, along with emails in which Kesha’s managers Jack Rovner and Ken Levitan, discussed a “jihad” against Dr. Luke. Included is also a 2014 Sunshine and Sachs press plan, obtained in its entirety as well by Variety, which lays out how the publicity company would handle press for the lawsuit.

In my opinion, that Kesha would take specific steps to help broadcast her lawsuit doesn’t necessarily reveal anything nefarious about her intentions. Dr. Luke has always had considerably more power her than her in this industry (as evidenced by the fact that he still has a job and still works with A-list talent) and in order to raise a complaint against him, I’d argue that Kesha needed all hands on deck. This was nearly four years before #MeToo, when allegations of harassment and sexual misconduct against famous men were covered widely and yet those men saw little to no repercussions, and getting the public on your side as a famous victim of sexual assault was a different battle.

“Contrary to Dr. Luke’s Legal Team’s assertion that today’s evidentiary record reveals something Kesha doesn’t want the public to see, Kesha has consistently requested that the evidence in the case be unsealed, while Dr. Luke has fought vigorously to keep the evidence from seeing the light of day,” Kesha’s legal team wrote to Pitchfork in response to Luke’s allegations. “Kesha looks forward to defeating Dr. Luke’s meritless $40+ million damage claims at summary judgment or trial.”