On Thursday, Page Six reported that Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Jennifer Schecter ruled that Kesha defamed Dr. Luke when back in February 2016 she texted Lady Gaga that he raped fellow pop star Katy Perry. In the 2017 defamation case, Dr. Luke sued Kesha for allegedly lying when she claimed that Dr. Luke drugged and raped her. In court, Dr. Luke claimed that Kesha texted Lady Gaga that he allegedly raped Katy Perry in an attempt to boost Kesha’s own case against him. The case which Dr. Luke refers to is Kesha’s explosive 2014 lawsuit in which she sued Dr. Luke for sexual assault and battery; she ultimately dropped the case in August 2016. In a deposition in 2017, Katy Perry denied that she had ever been sexually assaulted by Dr. Luke.
In the decision on Thursday, Schecter wrote, “Kesha made a false statement to Lady Gaga about Gottwald that was defamatory per se. There is no evidence whatsoever that Gottwald raped Katy Perry. Moreover, publication of a false statement to even one person, here Lady Gaga, is sufficient to impose liability.â€
As well as ruling that Kesha had defamed Dr. Luke, Schecter ordered that Kesha must pay Dr. Luke over $373,000 in interest for her late payment to him on over $1.3 million in royalties. Not only must Kesha pay interest, but Schecter rejected Kesha’s sole remaining counterclaim against Dr. Luke asking to be let out of her contract with KMI, Dr. Luke’s record label, which continues to collect royalties from Kesha’s music. (It’s unclear if he’ll profit off her newest album, High Road, too.)
Dr. Luke’s lawyer Christine Lepera released the following statement on his behalf: “Dr. Luke is pursuing this lawsuit to seek recovery for the serious harm Kesha’s false accusations of rape have caused Dr. Luke, his family and business.†This ongoing saga is not yet over, as Dr. Luke’s larger defamation case against Kesha on the grounds that Kesha defamed the music producer by alleging that he raped her still has the potential to go to trial. Lepera’s statement added, “Dr. Luke looks forward to the trial of his case where he will prove that Kesha’s other false statements about him were equally false and defamatory,â€
In a separate statement, Kesha’s lawyers said the following: “Judge Schecter issued rulings today on motions for summary judgment in the Dr. Luke litigation. We disagree with the Court’s rulings. We plan to immediately appeal.â€