Kesha’s lawyers have slammed her former producer Dr. Luke’s legal team for using private personal notes as evidence in their long-running legal battle.
Kesha filed a lawsuit in 2014 in which she alleged Dr. Luke, real name Lukasz Sebastian Gottwald, raped, drugged and abused her, and asked to be freed from her recording contract with the Sony Music subsidiary label he ran, Kemosabe. In response to her allegations he sued for defamation.
Ahead of a New York court hearing on Wednesday, Kesha’s lawyers accused Dr. Luke’s team of submitting personal notes as evidence in a bid to discredit her. The hearing will determine whether Kesha has to turn over documents relating to her own public relations strategy.
According to the New York Daily News, in a filing Kesha’s lawyer James Pearl claimed she had to run a public relations campaign as Dr. Luke had released personal correspondence in a bid to discredit her.
Comparing Dr.Luke’s legal team’s strategy to that of disgraced U.S. news show host Bill O’Reilly, he wrote, “Consistent with Bill O’Reilly’s recent strategy of releasing Megyn Kelly’s old thank-you notes to rebut her sexual-harassment complaints, Dr. Luke attached to his complaint a birthday card signed ‘Ke$ha’ thanking Dr. Luke for ‘making my wildest dreams come true.'”
O’Reilly was dismissed by bosses at U.S. network Fox News earlier this year (17), after it emerged he had settled several sexual harassment cases. In response to reports that he paid $32 million (£24 million) to settle one claim O’Reilly released private notes between himself and former colleague Megyn Kelly.
Dr. Luke’s lawyer is accusing Kesha, full name Kesha Rose Sebert, of having, “orchestrated a press strategy and public campaign to brand Gottwald a rapist (falsely) in order to coerce him to ‘settle.'”
The singer released her first album in five years, a deeply personal record called Rainbow, earlier this year (17).