Kesha Sebert v. Lukasz Gottwald
| Kesha v. Dr. Luke | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Court | New York Supreme Court |
| Decided | Ongoing |
| Case history | |
| Prior action(s) | not allegable. |
| Court membership | |
| Judge(s) sitting | Shirley Kornreich |
Kesha v. Dr. Luke refers to what was a New York Supreme Court lawsuit in which music producer Lukasz Sebastian Gottwald sued singer Kesha Rose Sebert and her mother, Rosemary Patricia "Pebe" Sebert, for defamation and breach of contract. This was a result of Kesha filing a civil suit against Dr. Luke in October 2014 for infliction of emotional distress, gender-based hate crimes and employment discrimination. This New York lawsuit resulted in the staying of a California lawsuit where Kesha claimed Dr. Luke was guilty of sexual assault and battery, sexual harassment, gender violence, civil harassment, violation of California's unfair business laws, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress, and negligent retention and supervision. In her New York counter-claim Kesha alleges that Dr. Luke "sexually, physically, verbally and emotionally" abused her since the beginning of their professional relationship. The suit alleged he drugged and raped her on two occasions, made threats against Kesha and her family, and called her derogatory names.
Dr. Luke has denied all of the allegations. In the legal documents filed in support of his defamation suit against Kesha, he claims that Kesha and her mother made "defamatory statements in an attempt to extort Gottwald [Dr. Luke] into releasing Kesha from her exclusive recording agreement".
On February 19, 2016, Kesha's request for a preliminary injunction was denied. Kesha appealed the decision the following month. On April 6, 2016, New York Judge Shirley Kornreich dismissed all of Kesha's counter-claims against producer Dr Luke. Kesha and her legal team appealed the injunction decision, and on June 7, 2016, Kesha was recorded in a deposition stating all the allegations details.
In September 2013, a Kesha fan set up a petition to "free" Kesha from Dr. Luke's management and accused Luke of "stunting" the singer's creative growth as an artist, receiving over 10,000 signatures. It was later revealed on My Crazy Beautiful Life that she had little creative control over her album Warrior, and was also stated that "Machine Gun Love", her favorite song that she had written, was omitted from the record against her wishes. Kesha had written over seventy songs that were intended for Warrior but Dr. Luke scrapped many of them. The co-director of My Crazy Beautiful Life, Steven Greenstreet, tweeted a picture in November of front row fans at one of Kesha's concerts carrying banners labelled, "Fuck Dr. Luke." Kesha's mother Pebe blamed Dr. Luke for her lack of creative input and said that she hoped that Kesha would be dropped from RCA Records.
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