Today, Kesha is finally going to court for her lawsuit against producer Dr. Luke. Back in October 2014, Kesha (previously known more popularly by her stage-name, Ke$ha) sued Dr. Luke, who had acted as the executive producer on all three of her studio albums. Accusing the 42-year-old producer of sexual assault, battery, and a decade’s worth of mental and emotional abuse, Kesha simply wanted to be released from her recording contract with Dr. Luke so that she could record music with producers who hadn’t emotionally scarred her by allegedly forcing her to snort things and then forcing themselves on her after she’d been sufficiently drugged on a plane.
Unfortunately, as has been the protocol with many court cases similar to this one, her request was not initially met and Dr. Luke eventually countersued Kesha for extortion. Claiming that all of her accusations were lies, Dr. Luke accused Kesha, her mother, and her entire (new) management team of spreading false information about him just to get out of Kesha’s binding recording contract with him. He also alleged that Kesha had been threatening him with the lawsuit for months, hoping that he would release her from her binding obligation to him without legal involvement.
Now, after more than a year of back-and-forth between the two camps, an inspirational #FreeKesha campaign that has since gone viral, an unsettling dearth of new music or live shows from Kesha herself, and an equally unsettling plethora of new Dr. Luke music from other artists, the case is finally being brought in front of a judge today at the New York State Supreme Court, and Kesha has something to say about it all.
In a series of recent Instagram posts, the “TiK ToK” singer addressed the impending decision. In one, she declared “I have nothing left to hide. I did this because the truth was eating away my soul and killing me from the inside.” She continued, “this is for every woman, every human who has ever been abused.” In another post, she let her guard down to admit that her “nerves are going crazy.” (She decided to watch The X-Files to relax.) But, she seems hopeful. In a post from last night, she shared a picture of herself hugging a fan, stating, “tomorrow this is me + u guys. every one of you who has sent me sweet messages thoughts or energy. I am so grateful.”