Women support fellow musician Kesha, including $250,000 from Taylor Swift
Posted February 22, 2016 12:52 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Women in the music industry are reaching out to support one of their own, as Kesha remains locked in a legal contract with a man she says sexually abused her over a period of years.
On Friday, Manhattan state Supreme Court Justice Shirley Kornreich turned down a request from Kesha and her lawyers to be released from a contract with Dr. Luke (Lukasz Gottwald) and Sony Music Entertainment.
After the decision, musicians from Lady Gaga to Ariana Grande to Canadian Alessia Cara, tweeted their support for Kesha (Kesha Rose Sebert). Their messages can be seen below:
Meanwhile, Taylor Swift is offering financial assistance. A representative for Swift confirmed on Sunday night that Swift had donated $250,000 to Kesha in what she called a “show of support” to help her in her legal battle with the producer.
Kesha says the producer drugged, sexually abused and psychologically tormented her, and the abuse started when she was 18 years old.
Dr. Luke has denied Kesha’s claim and has said she is smearing him to try to shirk her contract. Lawyers for Dr. Luke and Sony say Kesha is violating the five-album agreement by not recording. They say she doesn’t have to work with him personally, though he has rights to produce at least six songs on each of her albums and could pursue damages if he doesn’t.
In her decision, Kornreich seemed to refer to a promise from Sony that Kesha could record without Dr. Luke, saying Kesha “is being given the opportunity to record.” However, Entertainment Weekly reports that Kesha’s lawyer “characterized such an arrangement as “setting her up to fail,” because he believes Sony would not promote music recorded without Dr. Luke.
The legal battle is not yet over. Dr. Luke is asking a judge to throw out several of Kesha’s allegations, and there are related lawsuits in California and Tennessee.
With files from The Canadian Press
