Just weeks ago, a New York Supreme Court Justice refused to let Kesha (real name: Kesha Rose Sebert) walk away from her contract with Sony and her alleged abuser, producer Dr. Luke (real name: Lukasz Gottwald). Kesha had been seeking a preliminary injunction to release her from her producer and to allow her to record new music.
Kesha claims that Dr. Luke physically, sexually, and emotionally abused her for over a decade. Reports say that he would use drugs and alcohol to tear down her defenses. Kesha's mother, Pebe Sebert, has come out in support of her daughter, claiming that Dr. Luke has always been disrespectful towards Kesha.
Dr. Luke filed a suit against Kesha, claiming defamation and breach of contract. His lawyer, Christina Lepera, says that the defamatory statements are just their way of attempting to extort Dr. Luke into releasing Kesha from her agreement with him.
Fans have come out in support for their beloved pop star from protesting outside courthouses to starting petitions to creating the popular hashtag #FreeKesha.
The support doesn't just stop with her fan base, though. Multiple celebrities have shown their support for Kesha.
Taylor Swift has donated $250,000 to help with any financial troubles the pop star may be going through. The donation, however, seemed to spark a fire with Demi Lovato, who wasn't impressed. After subtweets and fights on fan run twitter pages, Lovato said that she prefers a more hands-on approach, such as publicly talking about it, instead of a more hands-off approach.
Kelly Clarkson has also come out with her personal experiences with Dr. Luke. She claims that her previous label pretty much forced her to work with him or else they wouldn't put her album out. Clarkson talked about how hard it was due to the pair clashing and how Dr. Luke was demeaning.
Lady Gaga, however, is probably one of Kesha's biggest supporters. From pictures of the pair to supporting tweets, one of the most meaningful shows of support would probably be of Lady Gaga dedicating her Oscar's performance of "Till It Happens To You" to Kesha.
Other celebrities who have shown support for Kesha include Adele, Ariana Grande, Lorde, Iggy Azalea, Sara Bareilles and JoJo.
After the very public show of support for Kesha and backlash against Sony for being unsupportive, it should come to no surprise that there are rumors that Sony may possibly drop Dr. Luke. With so many influential women supporting Kesha, it just gives Sony bad PR to stay with associated with Dr. Luke. Nothing has been confirmed, however, and a rep for Dr. Luke claims that he has an "excellent relationship" with Sony.
Personally, if I was Sony, I would have dropped Dr. Luke a long time ago.
Sadly, we still live in a society that consistently blames the victim and not the abuser. As a society, we should be encouraging survivors to come forward with their stories - to ensure that they won't be harassed, blamed, embarrassed or shamed for something they had no control over. We should be wanting to get these abusers off of the streets and away from those we love.
I stand with Kesha. Do you?
