The latest move in the legal battle between Dr. Luke and Kesha centers around the producer's claims that the singer threatened him for speaking the truth about another pop star.
According to a new report from The Blast, Dr. Luke (real name: Lukasz Gottwald) is alleging that Kesha's camp threatened him with contempt of court sanctions because he in June publicly revealed that frequent collaborator Katy Perry had denied that Luke raped her, as Kesha had claimed in a text to Lady Gaga.
Luke alleges that Kesha wanted Katy's denial kept quiet and that her lawyers made the threat because he'd "truthfully inform[ed] the public that Ms. Hudson [Katy Perry] denied the rape accusation," court papers show, according to The Blast. "There is no possible motivation for this threat, other than that Defendant wanted the public to believe, falsely, that Gottwald [Dr. Luke] raped Katy Perry," Luke's camp claims.
Back in 2017, it was revealed that Lady Gaga and Katy Perry had been drawn into Kesha and Luke's ongoing legal war, which began back in 2014 when Kesha claimed that he'd sexually assaulted and abused her during their decade-long working relationship. Luke has long denied Kesha's allegations, and a judge has ruled against her in that case. Dr. Luke is now pursuing a $50 million defamation lawsuit against Kesha claiming her accusations have negatively affected his work earnings.
A month ago, The Blast obtained court papers that explained exactly how Gaga and Katy were involved: The documents read, "On February 26, 2016 [Kesha] sent a text message to Stefani Germanotta p/k/a/ Lady Gaga which repeated [Kesha's] false claim that [Luke] had raped her… [Kesha] also falsely asserted that [Luke] had also raped Kathryn Hudson p/k/a/ Katy Perry," and that, "Following this text message conversation, and with [Kesha's] encouragement, [Lady Gaga] spread negative messages about [Luke] in the press and on social media."
After those documents came to light, Luke responded with a statement revealing that Katy had denied Kesha's rape claims. "Katy Perry herself confirmed that Dr. Luke did not rape her. Kesha's accusation to the contrary — just like her other outrageous lies about Dr. Luke — is baseless and irresponsible, and it is disrespectful to both Katy Perry and Dr. Luke. In his defamation lawsuit against Kesha, Dr. Luke seeks damages for the harm caused by these malicious falsehoods."
Further, Luke is alleging that Kesha has hurt his reputation by claiming he's out to bankrupt her with big legal bills as the case drags on. According to The Blast, Luke says Kesha has not publicly shared that multiple insurance companies have been contributing to her defense costs, while he has been footing his own legal bills.
Luke's team also alleges that while Kesha's career has been flourishing in the wake of their legal fight, his won't recover.
Earlier in July, The Blast reported that Pink and Avril Lavigne both signed legal documents that support the "Praying" singer over Luke in his defamation lawsuit. Both music stars swore in statements that their decision to stop working with the hit-making producer years ago had nothing do with Kesha's claims about his alleged sexual misconduct.