Unless you’ve been living under a rock of late, you’ve definitely heard about the legal case that is shaking up the big music industry, entered around Kesha and her producer Dr. Luke.
If you haven’t heard, it’s a pretty messed up story.
Kesha alleged that her producer Dr. Luke, real name Lukasz Gottwald, had subjected her to years of “sexual, physical, verbal and emotional abuse”. Kesha has been working with the producer for quite some time, and also alleges that the man drugged and raped her just after she turned 18.
Now, that’s pretty freaking disgusting, and not surprisingly Kesha filed a complaint against Gottwald and moved to cancel the contract that she has with Sony that requires her to work with him. The situation got even more complicated when Gottwald counter-sued Kesha, and accused her of defaming him and simply making up her stories to get out of a six-album contract that she’s in with Sony (and by extension, Gottwald).
Amazingly when the verdict was handed down the judge actually sided with Gottwald and told Kesha that is wouldn’t be possible for her to cancel the contract because it would undermine the laws that governed contracts in the state of New York.
Yeah, they’re going to keep making Kesha work with the man who allegedly raped her. That happened.
Think About It For A Moment
Let’s take the fame out of the situation for a moment so you can truly understand just how messed up this situation is. Just imagine that you’re a normal person working at a normal job. Maybe you’re a receptionist, and you’ve signed a contract promising to work with a company for six months. Well imagine that just a few weeks into that contract your boss, a man of power in the company, sexual assaults you.
You’d rightly go to the management and demand that you contract be cancelled, you don’t want to work anymore with a man who made you feel unsafe and violated your rights. But they tell you that, because you signed a contract, you actually can’t leave at all and tough luck you’ll just have to deal with it.
Sorry?
The Response
In the music industry, and outside of it, a large number of people have stepped up to the bat to support Kesha as she fights the ruling, and figures out how to emotionally deal with the fact that she has to see her alleged rapist on a regular basis. One person who has gone above and beyond the bar is gal-pal Taylor Swift, who decided to donate $250k to Kesha in actually support. Yes, not just tweeting about how unfair it was, but actually support. A spokesperson for Taylor Swift was quoted to Billboard as saying:
“In a show of support, Taylor Swift has donated $250,000 to Kesha to help with any of her financial needs during this trying time.”
Amazingly, and in absolutely unbelievable famous people fashion, Taylor’s generous action was slammed by fellow singer and performer Demi Lovato.
For reasons we cannot understand, Lovato subtly targeted Swift on Twitter over the weekend, not long after the donation was announced, saying in the tweet that she should “take something to Capitol Hill or actually speak out about something and then I’ll be impressed”. Yeah, she thinks that instead of giving money that’s going to fund an incredibly expensive legal process and take the fight as far as it will go, Swift should just follow in her footsteps and post some vaguely supportive tweets Kesha’s way.
Everyone knows that’s what really helps.
But Seriously
We applaud Taylor Swift for her generosity, and for her strong values about friendship and supporting others in need.
Her money will make a clear difference in Kesha’s campaign against Dr. Luke, and hopefully this judgement will not be the end of the line. Well done ladies.
