Kesha and Lukasz “Dr. Luke” Gottwald have settled a long-running legal battle that began after the singer, in October 2014, accused the producer of sexually assaulting her in 2005. The musicians announced the resolution with a joint statement. Find their remarks below.
In October 2014, Kesha filed a lawsuit against Dr. Luke in a California state court. In the lawsuit, Kesha alleged that the producer sexually assaulted, battered, and harassed her in 2005. She also asked to have her contract with Dr. Luke’s label, Kemosabe Records, voided. Immediately following Kesha’s lawsuit, Dr. Luke sued Kesha in New York for defamation—the lawsuit that remained standing until today.
In the original complaint, Dr. Luke and his lawyers wrote: “As part of the effort to get out of the Gottwald Recording Agreement, Kesha and [her mother, Pebe Sebert] have also orchestrated a campaign of publishing false and shocking accusations against Gottwald to extort Plaintiffs into letting Kesha out of the Gottwald Recording Agreement.”
In 2016, Kesha dropped her California lawsuit in order to continue pursuing legal action in New York. The following year, she released Rainbow, her first album since the lawsuits were filed. The album was released via RCA Records and Kemosabe Records, as Kesha had been unable to get out of her contract. Kesha did not, however, have to work with Dr. Luke on the full-length.
The defamation lawsuit took many twists and turns over the course of its nearly nine years. Notably, for much of the case, Dr. Luke was not considered to be a public figure, meaning that he had a lower bar to clear in order to prove that Kesha defamed him. Just last week, New York’s highest state court ruled that Dr. Luke would, indeed, have counted as a public figure for the purposes of the case.
This article was originally published on Thursday, June 22, at 2:46 p.m. Eastern. It was last updated on June 22 at 3:22 p.m. Eastern.
