Music
Lady Gaga publicly stands up for Kesha
by Jesse Locke
February 25, 2016
'What happened to Kesha has happened to many female artists, including myself, and it will affect her for the rest of her life.'
In her speech at the 2016 Brit Awards, Adele took a public stand for Kesha. Now, Lady Gaga has joined her with an emotional statement on Instagram decrying victim blaming. This is significant for many reasons, but largely because Kesha’s allegations against Dr. Luke beginning in 2014 said the producer raped Lady Gaga as well.
“The very reason women don’t speak up for years is the fear that no one will believe them or their abuser has threatened their life or life of their loved ones/livelihood in order to keep their victim quiet and under control. What happened to Kesha has happened to many female artists, including myself, and it will affect her for the rest of her life.”
“Why is [the] victim always the liar?”
“No one needs to validate Kesha. Why is victim always the ‘liar’? Why do we let people in a position of power get away with behaving inhumanely? These guys hide behind the legal system and it’s their litigious behavior that is precisely what they use to rape these girls. ‘Give me what I want or else I will come after you’ and they have all the money and the resources to do it.”
Kesha has also made her first public statement since the February 19th court decision to deny her injunction against Dr. Luke. In a lengthy Facebook post, Kesha says the following:
“All I ever wanted was to be able to make music without being afraid, scared, or abused. This case has never been about a renegotiation of my record contract – it was never about getting a bigger, or a better deal. This is about being free from my abuser. I would be willing to work with Sony if they do the right thing and break all ties that bind me to my abuser. But at this point, this issue is bigger than just about me.”
Producer Lukasz “Dr. Luke” Gottwald continues to deny Kesha’s accusations of sexual assault. He claims her lawsuit is “extortion.” A lawyer representing Sony Music (the major label home of both Dr. Luke and Kesha) has also issued the following statement that they won’t budge on her contract:
“Sony has made it possible for Kesha to record without any connection, involvement or interaction with Luke whatsoever, but Sony is not in a position to terminate the contractual relationship between Luke and Kesha.”
