Kesha has appealed the court’s recent denial of an injunction she filed last year against Lukasz Gottwald aka. Dr. Luke.
The court’s decision upholds the singer’s contract with Sony and by extension Dr. Luke, who she says abused her sexually and emotionally. Dr Luke has continuously denied these allegations.
Although Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Shirley Kornreich suggested that it was now possible for Kesha to not work with Dr. Luke, her lawyer Mark Geragos refuted the possibility. Justice Kornreich said at the time of the ruling that her instinct was to do the “commercially reasonable thing” and uphold what was a “typical” industry contract.
Geragos suggested that despite the court’s assertions, that it would be naive to think that Kesha would be able to record at Sony without any interference from Gottswald.
Geragos has controversially contested that forcing Kesha to continue to work for Sony was comparable to a modern form of “slavery”, suggesting: “Although it recognised that ‘slavery was done away with a long time ago’ and that ‘you can’t force someone to work… in a situation in which they don’t want to work,’ the Court’s ruling… does just that.”
Kesha’s lawyers are now also arguing that it was unreasonable for the court not to explain why the “irreparable harm” suffered could not be compensated by money damages.
Sony has not made a public comment since a spokeperson stated in late February that Kesha’s contract was still legally binding and could not be terminated.
Unconfirmed rumours emerged earlier this month that Sony were looking to dump Dr Luke, but nothing has been confirmed.
