Luke's response comes after Kesha's outburst on Instagram at the weekend. Photo / Getty Images
Luke's response comes after Kesha's outburst on Instagram at the weekend. Photo / Getty Images
For weeks, reports and rumors swirled that embattled pop star Kesha planned to use a scheduled appearance at the Billboard Music Awards to make a potent statement about Dr. Luke, the hit-making Sony producer she has accused of drugging and sexually assaulting her.
But Dr. Luke apparently decided to nix those plans. On Tuesday, the awards show producers announced that Luke's record label Kemosabe, to which she unwillingly remains under contract, had "rescinded its approval" for Kesha to appear on the awards show Sunday.
The announcement came one week after Dr. Luke's attorneys filed a request in New York City court for access to Kesha's medical records, according to multiple reports.
It's the latest high-drama development in a the long legal fight between the pop singer and the producer, born Lukasz Gottwald, who has denied her claims that he assaulted her during the years they worked closely together.
According to CBS, the letter filed by Dr. Luke's attorneys argued that Kesha "has unambiguously waived any physician-patient or therapist-patient privileges she may have had" as a result of her legal allegations against Dr. Luke.
Luke's response comes after Kesha's outburst on Instagram at the weekend. Photo / AP
"(Dr. Luke) should be permitted discovery regarding (Kesha)'s abuse allegations, including her specific contentions that such abuse caused her to seek medical treatment and enter rehab," the letter said.
This suggestion that by accusing someone of rape, a victim effectively waives the right to doctor-patient confidentiality has outraged Kesha's supporters as well as sexual assault victim advocates, who argue that such a precedent would have a devastating effect on victims.
The singer Kesha Rose Sebert sued the producer in California in 2014, alleging that he had drugged, raped and psychologically tormented her, driving her into an eating disorder.
Kesha leaves Supreme court in New York after a hearing involving her producer, Dr. Luke. Photo / AP
She asked to be released from a contract that required her to produce six records with Dr. Luke who promptly filed his own complaint in New York, alleging defamation and claiming that Kesha fabricated her story to get out of her contract.
The singer has drawn widespread support from fans and fellow music stars including Adele, Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga under the hashtag #FreeKesha.
Her case faced a major setback in April, when Manhattan State Supreme Court Justice Shirley Werner Kornreich dismissed all but one of the singer's claims, noting that the alleged assaults took place in 2005 and 2008 in California outside the legal time limit for such crimes, and beyond the court's jurisdiction.
On Monday, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Kesha's attorneys plan to pursue the case in California court.
In an Instagram post Tuesday, Kesha claimed she'd never planned to use her performance at the Billboard Music Awards to make a statement about Dr. Luke, and voiced sorrow that she would not be able to pay tribute to Bob Dylan.
"I'm very sad and sorry to say I won't be allowed to do this," she wrote. "I just wanted to make very clear that this performance was about me honoring one of my favorite songwriters of all time and has never had anything at all to do with Dr. Luke. I was never going to use a picture of him, speak of him or allude to my legal situation in any way."
Two days earlier, she shared with her Instagram followers that she continued to struggle with mental health issues, but was determined to triumph.
"I have been battling depression and an eating disorder for a while now," she wrote. "My career is in a strange place and it feels like I'm fighting an uphill fight some days. but I have decided to take my life back. my freedom. my happiness. my voice."
It seems unlikely that the world will hear her voice Sunday but Dick Clark Productions noted the possibility of a last-minute agreement that could clear the way for Kesha to take the stage.
""We hope that the parties can come to an arrangement," the company said in a statement, according to Billboard.
