Music

Kesha’s Legal Battle Against Dr. Luke Has Yet Another Setback

And, of all people, Imagine Dragons is trying to reignite a boycott of Dr. Luke.

by David James Young  14 October 2019
Kesha

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It’s been over two years since Kesha made her triumphant comeback with ‘Praying,’ heralded as the ultimate kiss-off and an anthem of the #MeToo era. Behind the scenes, however, things have more or less stayed the same.

— Warning: this article discusses sexual assault. —

The singer’s ongoing case against former collaborator and producer Lukasz Gottwald – AKA Dr. Luke – has remained in a stalemate up until quite recently. Unfortunately, the latest development is yet another setback.

As E! News reports, Kesha’s countersuit against Gottwald’s claims of defamation were dismissed a few weeks ago. The New York Court of Appeals claimed that Kesha’s appeal was “palpably insufficient” and “devoid of merit.”

This echoes sentiments that were put forward by Judge Shirley Kornreich in 2016, who dismissed the abuse claims from Kesha’s initial suit on the grounds that “she describes only two instances of… abuse” and that “the most recent event described was alleged to have happened… outside of the statute of limitations”.

What does this mean for the chart-topper? Essentially, it means that while Kesha no longer has to work with the producer, she still remains on the roster of his label, Kemosabe. The most recent suit was Kesha’s third attempt to void their contract, and this latest setback means that she is still not out of the woods after five years.

In the midst of this, a somewhat left-of-field ally has put their voice forward in support of the singer. Imagine Dragons frontman Dan Reynolds recently tweeted a pledge to boycott the prolific producer until the suit was dropped.

“I pledge to never work with Dr. Luke unless he drops his lawsuit against @KeshaRose and releases her of any contracts she has with him (publishing etc),” he wrote.

“I ask all artists in our industry to make this same pledge.”

While the #FreeKesha movement was part of what started this whole thing back in 2013, it’s both interesting and endearing to see Reynolds attempting to reignite the cause. Reynolds joins Pink, Avril Lavigne and Kelly Clarkson in refusing to work with Gottwald again.

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