Lady Gaga exchanged some powerful words with Dr. Luke’s lawyers while being deposed as part of Kesha’s ongoing legal battle against the producer, according to court documents unsealed Tuesday.
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Kesha sued Dr. Luke in 2014 for alleged sexual assault and battery, partly in an attempt to null her recording contracts with him. She accused Lukasz “Dr. Luke” Gottwald of raping her in 2005, claims that Dr. Luke denied and countered with defamation and breach of contract charges. Prior to the 2016 deposition, Gaga’s lawyer had told Dr. Luke’s lawyer that the singer was undergoing PTSD symptoms of her own sexual assault in response to Kesha’s case. “She has experienced in the past few hours some PTSD reactions which is causing some trauma and emotional reactivity,” Gaga’s lawyer announced to the court, according to The Blast. “So she is crying now the record will reflect.”
Gaga had been vocal about her support for Kesha during the online #FreeKesha campaign, but the leaked court documents gave us a glimpse of the extent of Gaga’s incredible, unbridled fury.
“do you know what it’s like for survivors? do you know what it’s like to tell people? don’t you roll your eyes at me. you should be ashamed of yourself.”
— lady gaga’s deposition in support of kesha in the dr. luke legal battle. pic.twitter.com/9BoJgJGZfP
— ✩ (@gagasyuyi) January 30, 2019
According to The Blast, Gaga was asked to go into specifics concerning her first meeting with Kesha in Dr. Luke’s home. Gaga recounted how Kesha was in a back room wearing only her underwear.
“What we discussed was, what I recall was, her immense sadness and depression and fear. She was visibly very different than when I had seen her before, and—but I can’t say specifically what we spoke about. I just recall it was emotional, and I wanted to be there for her.”
She was also asked what she knew about Kesha’s relationship with Dr. Luke.
“[Kesha] told me that he used power and manipulation in some fashion or some type of verbiage,” Gaga said. “I am not repeating exactly the words that came out of her mouth, but that he used power and manipulation to control her, and that she had been given a happy pill, that he offered her something and that she took it, and that she woke up and didn’t remember, and that’s what she told me.”
And when asked if she believed Kesha’s allegations would damage Dr. Luke’s reputation, Gaga replied:
“Reputation, if you are asking about his reputation in the world, I don’t feel at liberty to speak for the entire world. So if you are asking what my view is of his reputation, I made my view of him and his reputation when I saw her in that back room. That was an image that – of something that happened to me, and I felt and knew in my heart that she was telling the truth, and I believe her.”
Dr. Luke’s lawyer pressed Gaga, saying she had “absolutely no personal knowledge or information as to any interaction between [Dr. Luke] and Ms. Sebert, correct, physical or otherwise?” and she replied:
“Yes, I do have knowledge. [Kesha] told me he assaulted her.”
When asked again, she elaborated:
“Well, you know—when men assault women, they don’t invite people over to watch….When this happens in this industry, it is kept extremely secret, and it is compounded by contracts and manipulative power scenarios that actually include this very situation that we are all in right now.”
Again, Gaga was asked whether she had any “factual knowledge” about whether or not Kesha was raped by the producer.
“Oh, I have factual knowledge of her depression. I have factual knowledge of her need for support and love. I have factual knowledge of the spiral that I watched that girl go down. I have factual knowledge of trauma. I am informed and intelligent about this issue. That girl has experienced serious trauma and she is in the middle of it right now. And you are all a party to it.”
“You – how about all of the women that are accused of being liars and how she was slut shamed in front of the world, how about that?”
But things really heated up when Dr. Luke attorney Christine Lepera asked Gaga what she’d do if “someone were to say that your father raped someone and you knew it was false and that person had all these trauma symptoms.”
“Why on earth would this girl tell the entire world that this happened? Do you know what it’s like for survivors?” Gaga retorted. “Do you know what it’s like to tell people? Don’t you roll your eyes at me. You should be ashamed of yourself.”
https://twitter.com/13swift1989/status/1090710126648946688
https://twitter.com/VictorTiglao/status/1090724808248090625
I'm so proud of Lady Gaga for what she's done for Kesha…💗✨ pic.twitter.com/XjoYmqeSfH
— 𝔪𝔦𝔯𝔦𝔞𝔪 𖤐 (@mimisuxx) January 30, 2019
Dr. Luke’s defamation suit against Kesha is ongoing. Read the entirety of the deposition here.
h/t The Blast