Kesha files a request for Dr. Luke to pay for her court costs in the singer’s defamation battle

A new wrinkle has emerged in Kesha’s ongoing defamation battle with music producer Dr. Luke, with the singer filing for him to cover her legal costs.

The 34-year-old singer (born Kesha Rose Sebert) was granted a request to use a new free speech law in New York to allow her to have Luke (real name Lukasz Sebastian Gottwald) to cover her legal fees, according to Page Six.

The singer has been embroiled in this bitter battle for over eight years, after Luke sued her in 2014 following her claims that he drugged and raped her and also molested singer Katy Perry. 

‘At trial, a jury will agree that Kesha is telling the truth, and thus necessarily conclude that Dr. Luke knew he sexually assaulted Kesha in 2005, but nevertheless pursued for years a meritless (lawsuit),’ said Kesha’s lawyers in court papers filed Wednesday.

‘Kesha is entitled to compensatory and punitive damages and her attorneys’ fees and costs incurred defending (the lawsuit), the documents continue.

‘Dr. Luke’s scorched-earth litigation strategy is designed to humiliate and destroy Kesha … Dr. Luke’s goal has been to crush Kesha into retracting her reports of abuse,’ the singers lawyers added.

Kesha first filed a lawsuit against Dr. Luke in 2014, claiming he was sexually, verbally and physically abusive to her in the decade they worked together.

The producer signed Kesha when she was just 18 years of age and he was 15 years her senior, with the singer alleging that his behavior lead her to developing eating disorders, and his abuse got to the point, ‘where [she] nearly lost her life.’

‘The facts presented in our lawsuit paint a picture of a man who is controlling and willing to commit horrible acts of abuse in an attempt to intimidate an impressionable, talented, young female artist into submission for his personal gain,’ Kesha’s attorney, Mark Geragos, said in a 2014 statement when the suit was filed.

‘Kesha is focused on moving her life and her career beyond this terrible time,’ he added.

The producer fired back with allegations of his own, claiming she tried to extort him by spreading lies to get out of her contract.

‘This is just another pathetic and entirely predictable example of Dr. Luke’s continued abuse, and a misguided attempt to keep Kesha under his tyrannical control,’ Geragos said of Luke’s lawsuit. 

‘Kesha is focused on reclaiming her voice and her freedom. She is determined to move on with her life and her career by putting this dark period behind her,’ he added.

A judge declared in February 2020 that Kesha had defamed Dr. Luke by alleging that he raped Katy Perry, which Perry has denied.

Still, Dr. Luke will stand trial in October on the rest of Kesha’s charges of rape and assault.