Dr. Luke Says Kesha Accused Him Of Raping Katy Perry In Text To Lady Gaga
In new court documents obtained by celebrity gossip website The Blast, Dr. Luke is alleging that Kesha once accused him of raping Katy Perry in a text to Lady Gaga. The texts to Gaga were previously referenced in a claim from Luke’s legal team last year, which alleged that Kesha told Gaga that Luke had raped an then-unspecified female recording artist.
Kesha and Luke have been embroiled in a legal battle since 2014, when the singer filed a lawsuit against her former producer alleging that he regularly abused her and raped her in 2005. Luke, real name Lukasz Gottwald, has maintained his innocence, accusing Kesha of a “vicious smear campaign” and suing her for defamation and breach of contract.
The new documents obtained by The Blast stem from Luke’s defamation suit. They read in part: “On February 16 2016, Defendant sent a text message to Stefani Germanotta p/k/a/ Lady Gaga which repeated Defendant’s false claim that Gottwald had raped her. In this text message, Defendant also falsely asserted that Gottwald had also raped Kathryn Hudson p/k/a/ Katy Perry.”
Luke’s attorneys also reference Gaga’s public support of Kesha, accusing her of spreading “negative messages about Gottwald in the press and on social media” after receiving the texts. In July, it was reported that Luke had subpoenaed Gaga for a deposition in the defamation case, and the Blast’s story reports that Perry has been deposed as well.
Perry has been quiet about the story so far. We’ve contacted her representatives for comment and will update this post if we hear back.
This article originally appeared on Spin.
UPDATE: Dr. Luke’s Legal Team responded with a statement
Katy Perry herself confirmed that Dr. Luke did not rape her. Kesha’s accusation to the contrary-just like her other outrageous lies about Dr. Luke – is baseless and irresponsible, and it is disrespectful to both Katy Perry and Dr. Luke. In his defamation lawsuit against Kesha, Dr. Luke seeks damages for the harm caused by these malicious falsehoods.