I’m sure by now, all of you have heard about the Kesha and Dr. Luke lawsuit. If you haven’t, let me give you a quick rundown. In 2014, Kesha (the singer of ‘Tik Tok’) filed a lawsuit against her produced Dr. Luke, claiming that he drugged and raper her, as well as verbally abused her for almost a decade, being the cause of her eating disorder and mental illness. Dr. Luke quickly field a countersuit, claiming that the famous singer was lying about every aspect of her case, and was doing so in order to get out of their six – album contract with himself and Sony. Sony – a company that is estimated to be worth $17.7 BILLION is worrying about the $11 million that they spent promoting Kesha and locking her into this contract, regardless of the fact that by doing so, they will be forcing her to work with the man who has allegedly raped and abused her. When the courts ruled that Kesha must complete her contract with Sony, she, along with the rest of the world, was devastated.
This problem lies deeper than a one contract, one rape allegation, and Kesha. It not only perpetuates the rape culture that we still are living in in 2016, but it signals how women are still treated unequally, as if they are not as important as their male counterparts. Kesha claims that Dr. Luke forced her to drink with him, and then gave her ‘sober pills’, which turned out to be roofies. She then goes on to say “she woke up the following afternoon, naked in Dr. Luke’s bed, sore, sick … and with no memory of how she got there.” This was not the only incident that he forced her to take drugs or drink alcohol before her forced himself on an uninhibited her. These incidents happened between Dr. Luke and Kesha, no one else. Its his word against hers. So why is it that the courts rule with Dr. Luke, the alleged rapist, instead of the victim? Unfortunately this fits into the trend of victim blaming, where women who claim that they are raped, are berated by the police, and the rest of society in general. It is common for scare and guilt tactics to keep the victims quiet to be used. “If you go through with this, you could ruin his (the rapist’s) life” is just an example of this things that are said to the victim. Suddenly the blame is taken off of the rape and the victim, and turned onto how the accusations will affect the accused. The courts are not able to prove whether Dr. Luke actually raped Kesha, but the lawsuit is not over whether or not he should be put into jail for raping her, it is about whether she should continue her contract with him.
The correct decision that the court should have made is so glaringly obvious. ‘Freeing’ Kesha allows for her to not be subjected to the man who violated and abused her, and allows for her to continue her life as a young woman and an artist. There are so many other legal actions that could have been taken. She could have agreed not to produce music for a few years (non-compete clause), or have agreed to pay sony back for some of the money that they invested in her. Even though these options are still punishing her for being abused, they are a MUCH better alternative than the current one. If this was really a monetary issue, there would have been so many other options that the courts could have taken.
After the decision was made, celebrity support came pouring in for Kesha, creating the hashtag #FreeKesha. There was plenty of people screaming feminism, and pointing out the flaws that exist in our current society and legal system. The two supporters that stood out were Demi Lovato and Taylor Swift. Its a shame that the ‘feud’ that occurs between the two A – listers briefly overshadowed the actual issue that was occurring, but it is worth discussing. It started with Lovato sending out numerous cryptic tweets, where she began by discussing feminism in general, and then narrowed her rant to statements such as “Women empowerment is using your voice to help the voiceless women be heard.” Many swiftness immediately assumed that her messages were about their blonde queen and began to attack Lovato. After a few days of complete silence from Team Swift, Kesha’s mom tweeted that Taylor had donated $250,000 to Kesha to help her cover her expenses during the time she is not producing music, and thus has no source of income. Lovato promptly sent out another subtweet saying “Take something to Capitol Hill or actually speak out about something and then I’ll be impressed.” While a lot of people have defended Swift, stating that she made a significant contribution, and did her part, I agree with Lovato. Swift is notorious for taking strong, public stances against various causes that she believes in. Her most recent example of this is when she would not let Apple use her music on their new streaming service, since in their three month trial period they did not pay the artists. Taylor Swift fought not for herself, but for the smaller, struggling artists who need the money. Apple immediately changed their position, and agreed to pay these artists for their music in these trial months. This is the ideal example of how influencial Swift can be (especially in the music world!) That is why she should have taken a public stance about the injustice that occurred during Kesha’s trial. She could have discussed rape culture, feminism, any issue related to the case. She has unlimited resources, and people willing to help her form an educated opinion (if she doesn’t already have one). It is publicly known that her words and opinion can make a difference, and yet she chose not to speak.
Now obviously, the problem that we need to discuss is the injustice that has occurred, and the larger problems that our society faces in relation to rape culture and the way that we treat women in general. I am overwhelmingly happy with the public response in favour of Kesha that has occurred. Other producers have even agreed to work with her for free. I hope that she gets the justice that she deserves, and that this public case continues to bring attention to these larger societal issues.