The war between Dr. Luke and Kesha continues, and this time he's claiming that she defamed him and it affected his bottom line. He is now seeking $50 million from her.
The legal saga between Kesha and the producer has been ongoing for over three years. In October 2014, she claimed that Luke abused her and sexually assaulted her over the course of their 10-year working relationship. In turn, Luke sued her that same month for defamation and breach of contract.
The two fought in court for years.
In the latest battle, though, Luke said the never-ending lawsuit prevented him from making a lot of money. In his court filing, reported by The Blast, Luke said over the course of 10 years he would have made $29.9 million in producer and publishing royalties, $8.7 million from co-writing tracks with songwriters on his label, and $10.2 million for work that would have been done on Katy Perry's fourth, fifth and sixth albums.
The Blast said that Kesha responded by saying that the producer's estimates are "based upon his past hits and ability to secure top performers," and she doesn't think he'd be able to do that.
In a statement to Wonderwall.com, Dr. Luke's team said, "Kesha's false accusations have caused tremendous damage to Dr. Luke, his family and his businesses. Kesha's recent court filing misstates and misrepresents an expert accountant's calculations of certain revenue that Mr. Gottwald has lost as a result of Kesha's false accusations. The ultimate amount of Dr. Luke's damages is for a jury to decide."
For years, Kesha has been trying to get out of her deal with Dr. Luke, but the courts have sided with him. On May 29, The Hollywood Reporter said that a New York judge rejected her appeal to remove herself from contracts tying her to Dr. Luke.
"You can get a divorce from an abusive spouse," Kesha said in documents before the decision. "You can dissolve a partnership if the relationship becomes irreconcilable. The same opportunity — to be liberated from the physical, emotional, and financial bondage of a destructive relationship — should be available to a recording artist."