Lady Gaga Subpoenaed by Dr. Luke in Kesha Defamation Case

Lady Gaga, who recently performed at Coachella is being forced to get involved in the long legal battle between music producer Dr. Luke and Kesha. The producer’s attorney’s have subpoenaed Lady Gaga as part of his defamation case against Kesha. According to TMZ, Lady Gaga reportedly offered to submit a written statement, but Dr. Luke’s legal team have requested an in-person deposition.

According to Variety, Gaga’s legal team has given a statement on the issue saying, “As Lady Gaga‘s legal team will present to the court, she has provided all of the relevant information in her possession and is at most an ancillary witness in this process Dr. Luke’s team is attempting to manipulate the truth and draw press attention to their case by exaggerating Lady Gaga‘s role and falsely accusing her of dodging reasonable requests.” Dr. Luke’s legal team claims that Lady Gaga, who has been vocal in her support of Kesha, was a part of the “smear campaign” against Dr. Luke, even urging his label Sony Music to cut ties with the hit-making producer.

As reported by Pitchfork, Kesha has been denied a preliminary injunction and most of her counterclaims have been dropped. In April, Sony’s legal department stated that Dr. Luke was “no longer the CEO of Kemosabe Records and does not have the authority to act on its behalf,” effectively ending their relationship with the producer.

Kesha’s legal battle with Dr. Luke began in 2014 when she sued him, seeking to void all their contracts because of how Dr. Luke treated her. The suit claimed Dr. Luke “sexually, physically, verbally, and emotionally abused Kesha to the point where she nearly lost her life.” Kesha’s legal team released a series of emails from Dr. Luke, saying he harassed her for her eating habits. Dr. Luke counter sued shortly after, and released emails to shut down Kesha’s claims. On February 19th, New York judged denied Kesha a court injunction that would have allowed her to make new music- without Dr. Luke and Sony Music.

Dr. Luke has targeted other people in his legal battle including one of Kesha’s fans. The producer filed defamation suit against Kesha’s mother, Pebe Sherbert, but that case was dropped.