For more than a year, a single redacted text message has involved both Lady Gaga and Katy Perry in Dr. Luke’s defamation case against Kesha, who has accused him of sexual abuse. The contents of that message have now been revealed: The Blast reports that court documents filed by Dr. Luke refuting three of Kesha’s claims allege that Kesha once accused Luke of also raping Katy Perry. Kesha reportedly texted Lady Gaga this allegation on February 26, 2016, along with the claims that Luke raped Kesha. According to the filing, “Following this text message conversation, and with [Kesha’s] encouragement, [Lady Gaga] spread negative messages about [Luke] in the press and on social media.â€
Prior to these new court documents, all that was known about the text was that it accused Luke of raping another unidentified artist; the judge in the case had the text, which was submitted by Kesha, sealed. A court order had permitted Perry and Gaga to be privately shown the contents of the text. In July 2017, however, Luke subpoenaed Gaga to turn over the unredacted texts and testify in the case, to which Gaga complied. According to the new documents, Perry has also given a deposition, though the details of her testimony have not been disclosed; Perry has not publicly accused Luke. In his filing, Luke also refuted the claims that he gave Kesha drugs without her consent and raped her. Most recently, Kesha was denied what appears to be a final bid to be released from her contract with Luke.
Update: The legal team for Dr. Luke has issued the following statement: “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.â€