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Kesha updates Dr Luke lawsuit, accuses Sony Music of knowingly fostering abusive relationship
By Andy Malt | Published on Wednesday 10 June 2015
Kesha has updated her legal complaint against producer Lukasz ‘Dr Luke’ Gottwald to include Sony Music as a defendant, claiming that the label “forced an abusive relationship” and knowingly put other female artists in danger.
As previously reported, Kesha Sebert filed a lawsuit against the producer in LA last year, claiming that he had forced her to “take drugs and alcohol in order to take advantage of her sexually while she was intoxicated” when she was eighteen. She also accuses him of actual rape and of further abuse leading to her suffering from bulimia. Gottwald almost immediately filed a countersuit in New York accusing the singer of defamation.
Now, according to The Hollywood Reporter, the updated claim put forward by Kesha this week states: “Dr. Luke’s proclivity for abusive conduct was open and obvious to [Sony Music] executives, who either knew of the conduct and turned a blind eye, failed to investigate Dr Luke’s conduct, failed to take any corrective action, or actively concealed Dr Luke’s abuse”.
It continues: “SME’s conduct placed … female artists, including Ms Sebert, in physical danger by giving Dr Luke full creative and business control, with nearly limitless financial resources, over young female artists who necessarily were compelled to become dependent upon his good will … Based on SME’s conduct, SME has forced an abusive relationship between Dr Luke and Ms Sebert to this day”.
Gottwald’s countersuit claims that Sebert’s real issue is over past contracts, which, the producer alleges, the singer is trying to get out of. There is also a dispute over where the litigation should be heard, with Gottwald pushing for New York, but The Hollywood Reporter says the revised legal filing might force the case to be heard in California first, which is seemingly Sebert’s preference.