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Dr Luke comments on legal battle with Kesha

By Andy Malt | Published on Tuesday 23 February 2016

Following a surge of coverage and discussion about his legal battle with Kesha, producer Dr Luke has commented on the case via Twitter. He again denied her claims that he raped the singer, and called into doubt the integrity of her lawyer, Mark Gregaros.

As previously reported, Kesha Sebert accuses Lukasz Gottwald of plying her with drugs and alcohol and raping her as a teenager. Gottwald claims that the allegations and resulting lawsuit are an attempt to get out of her contract with his Kemosabe label, a Sony imprint.

Last week Sebert was denied a temporary injunction to allow her to record with another label outside the Sony empire. The judge noted that the major had already offered to allow Sebert to work with another producer, and possibly another label within the group. However, Geragos argued that Sony’s offer to his client was “illusory”, because the major’s loyalties really lie with Gottwald, who generates more income for the music company.

That ruling generated by far the most attention that this long running case has had so far, which prompted Gottwald to issue his own statement yesterday. He said that the case “should be resolved in court not here on Twitter”, but that he was commenting now because “there’s so much speculation out there basing itself on so little information”.

“The only truly objective person who knows the facts is the judge”, he wrote. “The judge did not rule in Kesha’s favor on Friday”.

“I understand why people without all the information are speaking out”, he continued. “I can appreciate their compassion. But lives can get ruined when there’s a rush to judgment before all the facts come out. Of course any sane person is against rape and sexual assault, but everybody who is commenting is doing so without knowledge or facts. They are getting behind an allegation only – motivated by money”.

“I didn’t rape Kesha and I have never had sex with her”, he stated, before pointing out that the singer had denied the accusations in a 2011 deposition, which was unsealed as the case went to court. Gregaros said last year that his client had been coerced into giving that testimony.

It was Gregaros who came under particular fire in Gottwald’s statement, with him noting that the two had a separate legal battle last year – Gottwald suing the lawyer for defamation after he claimed that the producer had also raped Lady Gaga, which she denied.

Gottwald also brought up that Gregaros represented Chris Brown after he assaulted Rihanna, and worked for Scott Peterson, who was convicted of murdering his wife. “How can [Gregaros] pretend he cares about women’s rights?”, Gottwald asked in relation to these cases.

Back to the ongoing case with Kesha, Gottwald went on: “Kesha and I made a lot of songs together and it was often good, but there were creative differences at times. It’s sad that she would turn a contract negotiation into something so horrendous and untrue. But I feel confident when this is over the lies will be exposed and the truth will prevail”.

He then concluded by saying that he would make little or no further comment on the case while it continued to work its way through the courts.