The legal fight between Kesha and producer Dr. Luke has a new detail involving a third famous name, Katy Perry.
In 2014, Kesha sued Luke, alleging sexual assault, harassment and emotional abuse during their long working relationship. Luke has denied those claims and countersued, alleging Kesha defamed him by making false accusations to get out of her contract.
According to court documents obtained by The Blast, Luke’s lawyers are arguing that Kesha’s allegations cost him more than 10 million dollars in earnings. In the filing, his side points to a text message Kesha allegedly sent to Lady Gaga on February 26, 2016. The documents claim the message repeated Kesha’s allegation about Luke and also asserted that he had assaulted Perry. The filing further alleges that Lady Gaga then spoke critically about Luke publicly with Kesha’s encouragement.
It is important to note that this is Luke’s side of the story, as presented in his own court filing. He denies all of the allegations made against him. Perry was deposed in the case and, according to The Guardian, denied the claim. Luke’s legal team said Perry herself has confirmed the allegation is untrue and called Kesha’s alleged accusation baseless and irresponsible.
The messages themselves had come up during discovery earlier in the case, but their contents had not been made public until now. Kesha has maintained her allegations against Luke throughout the case. Neither Perry nor Lady Gaga was reported to have commented on the filing.
The case remains ongoing.