Artist News Legal

Lady Gaga defends Kesha against Dr Luke in newly unseal deposition

By Andy Malt | Published on Thursday 31 January 2019

Lady Gaga’s 2017 deposition in the ongoing legal battle between Kesha and Dr Luke has been unsealed. The transcript shows Gaga fiercely defending her fellow music star. Questioned about the allegation that Luke sexually assaulted Kesha, at one point Gaga tells the producer’s lawyer, “You should be ashamed of yourself”.

Gaga was called to testify about a text message conversation in which Kesha confided that Luke – real name Lukas Gottwald – had raped her. In the same conversation, Kesha also claimed that Gottwald had raped Katy Perry, something both he and Perry have subsequently denied and which his legal team have now asked the court to rule as false.

In the deposition, obtained by The Blast, Gaga recalls her first meeting with Kesha, saying that it was in a back room of Gottwald’s home studio and that she was only wearing underwear.

“I made my view of [Gottwald] and his reputation when I saw her in that back room”, she says, adding that when Kesha later said that she had been abused by the producer “I felt and knew in my heart that she was telling the truth, and I believe her”.

Prior to Kesha saying that she had been raped, she had already spoken to Gaga about being allegedly abused by Gottwald. Gaga could not recall specifics of the first time the topic came up, but said: “What I recall was her immense sadness and depression and fear. She was visibly very different than when I had seen her before. But I can’t say specifically what we spoke about. I just recall it was emotional and I wanted to be there for her”.

When Gottwald’s lawyer countered that Gaga did not have any direct personal knowledge of any abuse or assault by the producer against Kesha, she replied: “Yes, I do have knowledge. She told me he assaulted her. You know, when men assault women, they don’t invite people over to watch”.

She continued: “When this happens in this industry, it is kept extremely secret, and it is compounded by contracts and manipulative power scenarios that actually include this very situation that we are all in right now”.

“I have factual knowledge of her depression”, she told Gottwald’s lawyer. “I have factual knowledge of her need for support and love. I have factual knowledge of the spiral that I watched that girl go down. I have factual knowledge of trauma. I am informed and intelligent about this issue. That girl has experienced serious trauma and she is in the middle of it right now. And you are all a party to it”.

She added: “Why on earth would this girl tell the entire world this happened? Why on earth? Do you know what it’s like for survivors? Do you know what it’s like to tell people? Don’t you roll your eyes at me. You should be ashamed of yourself”.

In response to the publication of Lady Gaga’s deposition yesterday, Dr Luke’s legal team told reporters: “Being passionate about a topic that concerns us all is admirable. However, Lady Gaga has no knowledge of what happened on the night at issue because she was not there”.

Summarising Gottwald’s version of events on the night of the alleged rape, the statement goes on: “Kesha got kicked out of a party after drinking too much and vomiting. As an act of kindness, Dr Luke offered to allow her to sleep in his hotel suite, a few blocks away. Kesha slept on the bed in the hotel suite, while Dr Luke separately slept on the couch”.

“Dr Luke testified under oath that he did not have any contact with Kesha”, the statement insists. “Kesha herself admitted under oath that she has absolutely no memory of Dr Luke even being in the hotel room. Kesha has no memory of Dr Luke engaging in inappropriate contact with her because it did not happen”.

The case continues.